Artist of The Blade
by 62635377
Summary: During the Crusades, the Brotherhood of Assassins were active in The Holy Land. After that, they moved into the mountains north of Konoha, Follow the Story of Uzumaki Naruto, who was raised by them as he ascends to greatness as a ninja of Konoha.
1. The beginning of a new generation

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

Chapter One: The beginning of a new generation

-_October Tenth 1865 C.E.; Konohagakure no Sato of the Gokuni-_

_"Al-Tair, I trust you most among any foreigner to our country" Namikaze Minato said, facing his friend._

_"Thank you sir, why, may I ask why you say this?" Al-Tair questioned_

_"Because, I'm going to die tonight, there's no way we can kill the beast, I want you to take my child, baptize him in your ways, let him become a member of the Brotherhood, and then you will send him back here on his twelfth birthday, when his training is over and he'd normally go and spend his three years traveling, he will then become a ninja here. Do You understand me?" Minato asked very seriously_

_"Yes, I Al-Tair Ibn La'Ahad vow that your son will be raised as a member of our Brotherhood of Assassins." Al-Tair Announced. _

_"Good, now the third Hokage will bring you my son tomorrow morning, rest Al-Tair, and I will see you in the afterlife" Namikaze turned and went to face his death._

-October Tenth, 1877 C.E. Eastern gate of Konoha-

Three men, all dressed in white robes moved with incredible speed through the forest, they wore hoods to conceal their identity but anyone who knew these men knew who they were. The guards of this gate of Konoha did not however, so they stopped them.

"State your name and purpose here"

"My name is Al-Tair Ibn La'Ahad, we have a letter from the Third Hokage, we're allowed to be here"

"Okay then, let me escort you"

"I know where the tower is, I've been here before"

"Procedure sir, I'm simply doing my job"

"If you insist"

-Hokage Tower-

The guard knocked at the door.

"Yes?"

"Sir, there's a group of men here to see you"

"Thank you, you may return to your posts" Sarutobi said He stood to greet his guests. "I see you brought him Al-Tair, you can keep even a twelve year promise, I'm surprised"

"I'm a man of my word no matter how much time passes" the assassin replied.

"I assume you taught him our gennin curriculum as well as your own?"

"Yes sir, we also taught him some other more useful jutsu that our group is known to use"

"I see, tell me Naruto, how do you like Konoha so far?" Sarutobi asked.

"It's much larger than I expected, even though I was born here, it's rather nice, I'll have to explore more of it" Naruto bowed.

"Well then, Al-Tair, I'll settle him into his housing arrangement, and get him a map and some dinner, Naruto, your test will be tomorrow, class starts at eight a.m. be there on time" Sarutobi said.

"Well then, we'll be taking our leave, Naruto, write to us, tell us how things are going" Al-Tair smiled.

"I'll make sure to, you guys were like family to me, I'll keep you updated as much as possible" Naruto smiled beneath his hood, he felt his mentor and godfather embrace him in a hug. The two other assassins left for their home, Masyaf in a mountainous region up north.

"So Naruto, you know who your father is I take it?"

"Yes sir, he was the fourth Hokage, and my mother was from a prominent clan in the Whirlpool country, Uzumaki Kushina"

"I've made sure to have men keep their house clean and in good order so that you may live there. your father was a member of the Brotherhood, for ten years, then they granted him special leave so he could become a ninja here. But as I am told you are still going to be a member after fifteen if I or the next Hokage allows it" Sarutobi turned toward his window

"Yes, they say that I will be sent on missions in villages and towns surrounding here"

"If by then you have attained Chunin then I will allow it, let me send for a shinobi to escort you and bring you a map." the fire shadow raised his right hand. A man in a mask appeared.

"Hatake Kakashi, I'm asking you to take Naruto to his house, his family's home"

"You mean this is sensei's son?" Kakashi said, surprised.

"Yes, take him to the Namikaze-Uzumaki house" the old man nodded

"Yes sir, Naruto if you will please follow me" The two left the building.

Naruto and the elder ninja he was escorted by arrived at the gate and they walked through, Naruto instinctively locked it behind him with a key that the Hokage had given him. They walked up the path to a large house, not extravagant, but still large by the standards of most.

"So this will be my home? It seems like a lot of wasted space for me"

"You can set up training rooms you know, and have guests once you make some friends, my name is Hatake Kakashi, I was a student to your father, the only surviving of the three of us."

"I notice you wear your Hitai Ate over your left eye, this usually indicates a facial injury, are you missing that eye?" Naruto inquired

"I had it replaced, but with a special… gift, If you are my student then I'll show you in time. I'll be taking on a three man squad from the academy." Naruto had spent years around men like him, the look in his eye showed that he had killed countless men, this one was dangerous.

"Thank you, do you know of any good restaurants around here?"

"Yeah, do you like ramen? I'll pay for it" Kakashi asked

"It's not my favorite, but it sounds good" Naruto responded almost instantly. "Let me go put my things down"

Naruto and Kakashi sat in the ramen bar called Ichiraku's for about an hour, Naruto had finally removed his hood to reveal a close shaved head of blonde hair, three marks on each cheek and a single scar through his left eye brow. They conversed on many topics from the layout and history of Konoha, to Kakashi's exploits in the village's special forces unit the ANBU. Finally the two parted ways and Naruto began his way home. Arriving there he picked up his rucksack he had brought with him and walked upstairs, took a right and walked to the end of the hall, choosing the master bedroom. On his left side he wore a double edged sword that was standard in his Brotherhood, he removed this first. The strap for his sword held many throwing knives He unbuttoned his cloak, which buttoned to his sternum, then angled to his right hip, both sides from the waist down were open, revealing brown pants and black boots, he had a killing knife on his right leg and on the bottom of his right gauntlet was a retracting blade. He wore a simple black t-shirt under his cloak. He next unbuckled his hardened leather gauntlets and removed them, setting them on the dresser that was in the room. He removed his shirt and folded it neatly and placed it next to his gauntlets. The right pocket of his pants held a small folding knife that was clipped to his pocket, he set this on his night stand. Next he removed his killing knife, the sheath was attached to his boot by two straps, this he also set on his night stand. He removed his boots and set them in front of his bed, he removed his pants last and set them neatly folded atop his shirt and cloak. He climbed into his bed and went to sleep.

Naruto rose the next morning at six a.m. and walked to his bathroom, he quickly showered, dressed and equipped himself. He pulled the map from his rucksack and found the spot marked "Ninja academy", he then left his house and moved quickly that way. Arriving, he scaled to the room he was supposed to be in, floor 2, class 3. He walked in, chose a spot in the back next to a rather dark looking boy with raven colored hair and a navy blue shirt. This boy paid him no attention externally, but mentally he made a note.

_This guy masks his signature incredibly well, he moves in a way unlike any gennin or recruit, who is he?_

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, you can stop staring at me" Naruto muttered. His neighbor was surprised, but hardly showed it.

"Uchiha Sasuke, I can tell it, you're strong, let's fight after these tests"

"You'd die, I've already got my blade poised to cut your femoral artery" Sasuke saw the retractable blade that was mere millimeters from his artery. He hadn't even noticed the blade move.

"What are you?"

"Make sure you're not my enemy, that's all I'll say" Naruto retracted the blade as the teacher walked in.

"Students, we have a new member, please introduce yourself"

"No" Iruka was taken back by this, but continued anyway.

"We're going to do the Gennin tests today, Naruto, because of your unwillingness to be polite you're to go first, and we'll make your test in front of the class" Iruka smirked. Naruto stood and walked to the front of the room.

"What do I have to do?"

"You have to make three normal bunshin, do the transformation jutsu, and demonstrate your kunai and shuriken ability"

"I don't have kunai or shuriken, only normal throwing knives, normal bunshin are pointless, let me show you the Kage Bunshin" Naruto held up his hands and made the seal, creating the three copies of himself. "What do we need to transform into?" he asked.

"Me" they instantly and in unison made the proper seals and transformed into Iruka, he then dispelled the clones and returned to his white robed self.

"Where is the target?" Naruto asked. Iruka was still surprised by the joint jutsu combination, so he hesitated with shock before straightening.

"Mizuki, please bring the target out here, let's have the whole class test out here." Iruka instructed his assistant. Mizuki brought out the human silhouette target and set it up. Naruto stood where he was instructed, and in a flash of movement he planted a knife in the center of the target over the head, he then planted two more so close together in the same spot one may think he hit the same spot. He then planted three more of the throwing knives in the chest target, also dead center. He walked to the silhouette and pulled his knives from the target, putting them in their respective slots.

"Do I pass?" Naruto inquired. Iruka was still staring at the target, mouth agape, he took a second asking to get an answer.

"Yes…Yes you do." He handed him the hitai ate and asked him to take his seat. Students looked at him with stares of shock and jealousy, many female students wore looks they usually saved for the class heart throb Sasuke. Naruto carefully watched the tests to see who passed and who failed.

Many students failed, but overall most of them passed. Naruto lay outside enjoying the sunny day before he left to his home. He extended his blade when he noticed the presence of someone, it was a girl with long pink hair.

"What do you want?" Naruto asked, sitting up and looking at his guest.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, will you go on a date with me?" She asked, smiling, Naruto thought it was an attempt to be charming.

"No"

"No?"

"No" Naruto retracted his blade. Standing to his full height of about five feet. "And I'll tell you why" Naruto held up one finger "You're trying too hard to be attractive, and judging by your chakra signature, not hard enough to be a ninja." Two fingers up "I don't know you at all, you've not even seen my face without my hood, and you probably just want me because I passed with such a high score." he raised his third finger "My final reason is because I don't like girls with long hair, if you were to cut it to about here" He placed the edge of his hand at about mid neck to her "It would compliment you much better" He then turned "If you can beat that Sasuke kid, or arouse my interest in some other way, then maybe I'll consider" he walked off and left her to think.

_-The Next Day-_

Naruto arrived at the school building at the same time he did the previous day. He sat in the back, and a blond girl came up to him, he didn't even wait for her to introduce herself.

"No, I will not go on a date with you"

"What? Why?" she shouted.

"Ask Sakura, she'll tell you" Naruto said, Sasuke arrived at that time.

"Ahh, my brooding friend, how goes it? Tell me, before I arrived, did these girls give you trouble?"

"Yes, they did, how did you get so strong without ever being inside a ninja academy?" Sasuke sat next to him.

"I never said I wasn't in a ninja academy, I belonged to a special group, they're superior to your ninja, the clan I was raised with has origins in the fort Alamut in Iran, they've been around since about the 1100's, a great people they are. Our group has since evolved and adapted some of your jutsu. Let's you and I be friends, I can tell you're gonna be a good ally" Naruto extended his left hand. Sasuke took his hand and shook it.

"You wear so many different weapons… why?"

"Different situations, would you use a kunai to kill a samurai or spearman? How about using a sword to kill a man who's twenty feet away or perhaps right up close? Or in a confined space? You need different weapons, the teacher's here, listen up" Naruto said as Iruka walked into the classroom.

"Listen up, all of you here passed the gennin exam, now you are to be broken up into three man cells, some will be balanced for specific tasks, others are just general teams. First I'll start with the Reconnaissance team, this consists of Hyuuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, and Aburame Shino." Iruka called several teams. Finally, there were just six people left in the room who weren't on a team. "Finally, in typical tradition, there's the Yamanaka-Nara-Akimichi team, leaving only the Assassination team, Uchiha Sasuke, Uzumaki Naruto and Haruno Sakura" Naruto smiled, assassination was his best subject. "Your teachers will be picking you up shortly" Iruka left the classroom.

Over the next hour, every three man cell was picked up except the assassination team, or team seven. Naruto began fidgeting, he never liked people who were late, so decided to set a trap, he produced some tripwire from under his cloak and went to work stringing a trap.

"He's never gonna fall for that" Sasuke said.

"I met our teacher two days ago when I arrived here, he'll fall for it" Naruto had strung his miniature crossbow and loaded a piece of chalk.

"You know, normally Naruto you'd be right, but I learned never to use doors when dealing with your kind" Kakashi said, standing in the window.

"Roof. Now." Kakashi said and vanished. Naruto unstrung his trap and took his crossbow. Then made the ascent to the roof.

"Well, as a formality I have to ask your name, hobbies, dislikes and dreams, so let's take turns, you first Naruto" Kakashi pointed to the young assassin in training.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto, my likes are my brothers in Masyaf, training and bladed weapons. My dislikes are people who can't follow their own path and my dream is to become Hokage like my father." Naruto said quickly. Kakashi pointed to Sasuke.

"My name is Uchiha Sasuke, my likes are training and painting, my dislikes are impatient people and people who betray their loved ones for power, my dreams are to kill a certain man and to restore my clan" Kakashi nodded and pointed to Sakura.

"My name is Haruno Sakura, my likes are chocolate and a certain person, my dislikes are arrogant people, my dream is to become like Tsunade and become a powerful Kunoichi"

"One has to train in order to become strong Sakura" Naruto interrupted.

"Okay, so my name is Hatake Kakashi, my likes are people who are willing to do anything for their friends and loved one, my dislikes are people who abandon their friends. My dreams… I haven't thought of my dreams" Kakashi had some papers in his hand, he handed them to the students. "Your first mission is another test that is used to filter out even more bad seeds, arrive at training ground 7 tomorrow morning at eight a.m. tomorrow morning, and don't eat, you'll just puke" Kakashi then turned and vanished.

"What's he gonna have us do?" Sakura asked.

"Al-Tair had me do an exercise like this, make sure you eat, even though he told you not to, bring all weapons you have and leave all hesitation at home" Naruto then ran, jumped from the railing on the roof and landed on another building, he took off in the direction of the Hokage mountains.

-Chapter one: End-


	2. Rising to the Challenge

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

Chapter two: Rising to the challenge

Naruto found himself to be the only one at the training ground at 7:30a.m., he had figured that at least one of the others would be there a half hour early. He was wrong, he saw a statue that appeared to have names carved into it, he walked closer, intrigued, he read through them, finding thousands of names, he paused when he saw his father's name.

"Father, you've left me with a curse, but as long as no one knows, then I'll live with it" Naruto said, his hood covered his expression.

"What's this curse?" Sasuke asked. Naruto looked over, then looked at the statue.

"Nothing that concerns you" he turned, looking to the gate. "The other two are here" As if on cue, they both arrived, from opposite directions, Kakashi had come from behind, Sakura came from the gate.

"So, it seems we're all here, now let me show you what we're doing" the Hatake drew two bells from the pouch on his belt. "Your task is to get the bells, you have until noon" Kakashi smiled beneath his mask "You may use any force necessary, if you don't…" Kakashi's gaze became threatening "You'll die" He tucked them into his belt.

"What happens if we fail?" Sakura asked.

"You're sent back to the academy, as a failure"

"That's impossible, Al-Tair told me that when I was assigned to a team, that there would be three, and if it were two gennin and a jounin then the formations would be unbalanced" Naruto said.

"Nope, We'll combine the surviving teams and use them" Kakashi smiled "You have until noon…GO!" All three disappeared quickly.

Kakashi stood in the middle of the clearing, scratching his head.

"Those three have hidden themselves well, Naruto's no doubt around here somewhere, Sasuke will probably find him or challenge me alone, Sakura will find Naruto or Sasuke" Kakashi ducked quickly as a crossbow bolt flew directly above his head, he turned and caught Naruto's wrist, preventing his blade from piercing. He rolled back and executed a wheel throw, Naruto used his hands to catch himself and sprung back to his feet.

"I never expected you to be the one to challenge me alone" Kakashi stood, rolling his wrists.

"I wanted to gauge myself. So alone was the best way before I get them to help me" Naruto drew his sword and brought the blade in quickly, Kakashi dodged the lethal blade as best he could. He never had expected the kick, but he still caught it, Naruto lashed out with his left hand next, Kakashi also caught this, flipping him over, Naruto reached for the bell, extending his blade at the last moment, barely piercing Kakashi's leg, who dropped him and jumped back like he were some possessed item, Naruto picked up the bell and ran to the safety of the forest. Kakashi clenched his fists.

_"Damn, I forgot about that damned blade, now he's got a bell, no doubt he'll help the other two."_

Naruto had no trouble finding the other two members of his team, Sasuke was stringing a trap, Sakura was looking for him. So when he found them, he held up a bell.

"You already got one? How?" Sakura shouted.

"Careful planning. Now the whole reason for this mission is teamwork, so let's work like a team, Sasuke, you and I will distract him, Sakura, you sneak up on him, but give yourself away at the last moment possible and then Sasuke will take the bell. If all else fails, I'll shoot him with my crossbow, and while he's stunned, then you can take it." Naruto smiled under his hood.

"Why should we listen to you? Neither of us knows you well, and you're hardly a ninja. You're just lucky."

"I'm sorry, who has the bell and was able to injure the teacher. Last I recall Sasuke, you're empty handed, so unless you want to fail, I suggest you listen, or at least try my idea." Naruto turned, heading into the forest, Sasuke grudgingly followed, Sakura as well.

Kakashi turned to see two of his students standing in front of him.

"Where's the third one? I imagine you've sent her to try to sneak up on me? A girl like her who can't mask her signature, she'll never sneak up on me" Kakashi turned his head to see the girl standing behind her, Sasuke dashed in and threw shuriken at him, which he dodged, Sakura then threw her volley, Naruto threw his knife. All three closed in at one time, Naruto pulled his crossbow from his back, fired an arrow which was caught by the copy ninja. He failed however, to watch the other two students, Sakura came high as Sasuke went low with a leg sweep, Naruto moved in and caught Kakashi in the middle as he barrel rolled to avoid both. Naruto held his neck between his bicep and forearm, Sasuke pulled the bell from his belt.

"We win teacher" Naruto's smile was visible from under his hood.

"So you do, now which of you goes back to the academy?"

"None of us are, we know what you're thinking, you want us to all try and give up our opportunity… for one of us to fall so two of us can succeed" Sakura smiled triumphantly.

"But none of us will fall" Sasuke said, glad that he now held the bell.

"We're all gonna pass this test regardless of the bells" Naruto released the teacher, who stood up and clapped his hands together.

"Yup, you all pass, I imagine Naruto probably helped you guys?"

"Yeah, he's a pretty smart almost ninja" Sasuke smirked.

"Oh he's got the whole ninja thing down, It's teamwork he needs to worry about, he only worked with you because he knew you'd all fail if he didn't, he got his own bell" Kakashi handed him his lunch, who immediately began eating. "You've got great potential in this field Naruto, just remember that there are reasons we're in a team."

"I've got no problem being in a team, just put me with someone better" Naruto said.

"You have no idea who the Uchiha clan was do you?" Sasuke stood, pulling a kunai from his holster. Naruto stood up and pulled out his killing knife.

"I know who they are, Now tell me how if they were supposedly so strong, how were they killed by a single of their own?" Sasuke charged at Naruto, who dodged and butted him with his knife's handle. "You let your emotions control you, as an assassin we have to learn to control our emotions, I imagine that your ninja are the same way Kakashi?"

"Sasuke, he's not your enemy. If he injured me, then what do you think he'll do to you?" Kakashi looked at his student. Sasuke threw his knife down, stood up and pointed at the assassin.

"You and me are going to fight, no weapons, just our hands and feet" Sasuke waited.

"No, we're allies, we have to act as such, don't let your anger and hate cloud your judgment, or I will kill you even if that means losing my status as a ninja, I could always go back to Masyaf and be an assassin for them" Naruto sheathed his knife and sat down, continuing his lunch. Sasuke was enraged, he walked to Naruto and slapped the bento from his hand. Naruto stood up, standing a few inches taller than Sasuke. "You really want to fight?"

Naruto slammed his palm into Sasuke's chin, taking him to the ground, he picked him up and took him by the arm, bending it behind his back and putting his other arm around his neck. He then whispered into his ear "You've got to lose the anger problems before I lose my patience, Unlike Itachi I will kill you." Naruto pushed him forward. Kakashi looked at his students. "I must say I'm disappointed in you Naruto, you were just working with him and now you're making death threats, you need work in the teamwork section."

"I'll see you tomorrow Kakashi, Sakura" Naruto nodded to his other teammates and left the grounds.

"Why is he so rude?" Sakura asked?

"He's never known his real parents, he's never lived in his homeland, and he was raised to feel nothing in order to be a more efficient killer" Kakashi rubbed his thigh. "But I wonder if they made him too efficient?"

Naruto ate his dinner, thinking through his day, his thoughts always went back to the way Kakashi moved, sure he used no techniques, but he was still so damned fast that it took every ounce of his speed to barely knick his leg, was this the Konoha's power? He stepped out of the shower and began drying himself. He heard a knock at the door, so he quickly stood anda nswered the door to find a strange ninja at the door, he recognized this as one of the ANBU special ops from the village.

"The Hokage requests your presence at the tower, please be there in twenty minutes" with that the ANBU was gone. Naruto grabbed his cloak, sword and gauntlets, he buckled and strapped his gear into place.

"You requested my presence Hokage?" Naruto stood in front of the Fire Shadow's desk.

"Yes, it concerns your performance today, it appears that you and Sasuke had some what of a fight today, so in order to change that, I'm requiring that you allow him to move into your home and live with you until I tell you otherwise."

"What?! You can't! that's out of the question, I won't let him live in my house." Naruto yelled.

"You will do it!" Sarutobi sharply commanded, standing, he walked to the young assassin. "I will tell Al-Tair of this, and if you kill him or fight with him one more time, I will see to it that you are never allowed to return to Masyaf and you will be banished and immediately marked as an A-class threat to this nation, Sasuke will be powerful with time, we need some way to keep him here. We think if you stay and befriend him then he is more prone to stay." Naruto looked defiantly into his superior's eyes before ultimately yielding. "Thank you, now go to his house and help him pack his things, here is his address" Sarutobi handed him a piece of paper that told Sasuke of the conditions but also had the Uchiha manor's address.

Naruto stood in front of the massive complex, he saw the door and noticed that it was rigged with a trap, so he carefully and silently scaled the wall, catching the seal of the door, he then used it to give himself the momentum to scale the rest in another try. He stood on the wall, walking along it, he found his way to the door of the main building. He knocked, waiting for the Uchiha, he stood until the person in question answered the door.

"What do you want?" Sasuke spat.

"I've got orders that you are required by the Hokage to come live with me in my father's mansion over on the other side of town."

"Who said this?"

"The old man. It's all right here" He handed Sasuke the paper. He read it over, then handed the paper back.

"Fine, let me get my things. I'll be out in a few minutes"

"I was told to some help"

"Whatever, it's not much, just my weapons and my clothes" Sasuke opened the door. Naruto walked around, noticing that there was scarcely anything in there, a few pieces of furniture, but mostly nothing. Sasuke led him to his room, where there was a dresser, a shelf with training manuals and scrolls, and a weapon rack, he took the weapons and began sliding them into a canvas sheet that had slots for kunai and shuriken, he put this in a large duffel bag, he put every change of clothes in the bag and stood. "Let's go".

They arrived at Naruto's house, they walked in and unlocked the door.

"Welcome to the Namikaze-Uzumaki mansion, it seems that since we're gonna be living together we should at least try to get along, but if you don't want to, there's two kitchens, four bathrooms, eight bedrooms and five training rooms, the obstacle course out back and lots of living rooms." Naruto turned to his new house mate. "You need to make friends, Itachi probably told you some fucked up 'hate more' shit, you need to hate less, be human, that's what will allow you to kill him"

"What do you know?"

"I know what history's and still the worlds best killers taught me, you must maintain calm at all times, that's what will allow you to act without a clouded mind, if you remember the hate, you will die. I understand that you hate him for your family. I never had a real family so I'll never know your feelings. I do however understand the idea of hatred, you must learn to hate, but don't let the hate rule you, let calm rule you and your instincts."

"I wanted to ask you, Kakashi said you never had a family, I wanted to know what happened to your mother?"

"She died birthing me, my father, you know him as the Fourth Hokage died sealing that wretched beast the Kyuubi into my stomach" Naruto saw Sasuke's eyes widen, he sat on a couch.

"I thought he killed it?" Naruto laughed at hearing this.

"No, he didn't kill it, no human being can kill a demon, except Uchiha Madara, but he wasn't much of a human, he was kind of a demon in some sense. You can only seal it in something that has a chakra signature." Naruto stood up, turning he walked towards the stairs "It's late, let's get to bed, take any room you please" Naruto went toward his bedroom.

-Chapter 2:End-

_**Author's Notes:**_

_**I know I may have made Naruto seem like an ass, and he may seem too strong, but realize this, Kakashi wouldn't go full force against his own students, when one is fighting they often forget things, so the hidden blade trick is very plausible. He was trying to prove a point to Sasuke, that's why he acted the way he did, plus this isn't the same Naruto as in the original storyline, this is one who was raised by a group of professional killers.**_

_**I hope you enjoy it so far, please review.**_

_**Nameless**_


	3. First Mission

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

Chapter Three: The First mission

Naruto woke up, he heard a repeated kiai and the sound of a limb striking a pad. He dressed and went into the room he'd dubbed the "Bag room". He called it that because it had dozens of different striking bags. Sasuke was repeatedly striking the heavy bags on the sliding chains. Naruto had no cloak on because he felt no real need to wear it. The assassin watched as he hit the bag from a fighting stance.

"No no no that's all wrong, you shouldn't assume a fighting stance when you fight, you need to come from a normal stance like this." he walked over and slammed a powerful round house kick to the bag and it slid to the end of the track and swung, sliding partially back. "You won't always have time to assume a stance, these bags are designed to be the weight of a full grown human, the sliding bag is meant to test the force of a kick. Now you try" Naruto went over as pulled the bag back over, Sasuke stood at ease and the launched with an explosively fast kick. The bag slid about three quarters of the way.

"Damn it." Sasuke cursed.

"That's still good, the only reason I can kick so hard is because of the training the Brotherhood put me through. I owe them a lot" Naruto slid the bag back. "You should try not being so awkward with your movements, let them flow from you." Naruto instructed, Sasuke thought for a moment, wondering why he was taking the instruction from him. He then relaxed and kicked again, this time it slid about a foot farther than before. "Good, now let's go, Kakashi has some mission for us." Naruto turned and walked to go get his cloak. " By the way, I think a weapon would do you some good, my father has some swords and other stuff in the weapons practice room, you can take one if you want." Naruto went into his room to get his cloak, grabbing it off the rack he had, he pulled his sword off and then put it over the cloak after he'd put it on. He met Sasuke in the front after he'd chosen his weapon. " You should look into some black or blue pants too, shorts with a sword on your back looks weird, but it's your fashion sense."

"Why are you helping me so much?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know, maybe it's just because I've got nothing better to do. Maybe it's because I want to try and befriend you, We should try and be friends since we're on the same team and in the same house. One of the three rules of the Brotherhood is 'Never compromise the brotherhood'. So I figure if we're friends that we won't fuck up our team" Naruto laughed as he put up his hood.

"I don't need any friends"

"Sure you do, they're great to have, Especially if you want to kill your brother who's many times stronger than even Kakashi. He worked with Al-Tair once. Scary man he is." Naruto left the house.

"What are the three rules anyway?"

"Never compromise the brotherhood, hide in plain sight in order to mask your intent, and Never let your blade touch the flesh of an innocent." Naruto listed out. Sasuke seemed to understand. They left the house, and headed for the place they were told the day before.

Arriving they found Sakura there but no teacher. Naruto wore had no pack, just his normal gear, and a quiver of crossbow bolts on his right side, He was trained to not use a tent because it slowed him down on his missions and he would be more easily noticed, so he never used one, his cloak provided enough warmth.

"Where is that damned man?" Naruto muttered to himself.

"Who?" Kakashi asked in Naruto's ear.

"You should consider showing up on time Kakashi."

"Well, I would have been on time but there was a giant fish that jumped on shore from the river and I had to get it back into the river before it suffocated." Kakashi was obviously lying.

"Well what's our mission?" Sakura questioned.

"Let's go find out shall we?" Kakashi suggested. They headed toward the Hokage tower to receive their mission.

"Today, team seven we'd like you to retrieve a client, he's an architect and he believes he found an ancient ninja artifact, he wants to sell it to us. But there may be bandits attacking him, but we don't think anymore than that because only a bandit or shadow lord would want an artifact like that so it's only a C-rank mission" Naruto smiled, one of his mentor's first missions were similar to this, but it went all wrong and he ended up killing someone he wasn't supposed to.

"Alright, we head out in two hours, get any gear you think you'll need for the trip, it looks like it'll be a two or three week mission." Kakashi said as he read the mission outline. Naruto and Sasuke set out for their house when Sasuke spoke up.

"You really think I should get some pants?"

"Yes Sasuke I think you should get pants, do you want some pants?" Naruto said.

"Sure, do you have any that I can wear until we get back?"

"Yeah, I've got some you can wear, you need to get your stuff from the house anyway" They continued to the house and Naruto went and got some pants for Sasuke, who only really wore shorts. They were regular black pants.

They returned to the gate two hours later, Naruto brought some rations in a small bag that was slung over his shoulder beneath his crossbow and quiver, he had five days of rations, two for both the way there and back and an extra day just in case. He also brought a flint, while he could light fire with chakra, most could pick up the slightest chakra spike from miles around, so he preferred to light his fires with flint and steel. Sasuke and Sakura both had full shinobi gear, Kakashi… had yet to show up, but Naruto knew he'd show up the moment he said something.

"Gee, I wonder where Kakashi could be?" He said sarcastically.

"Me too" Kakashi had suddenly appeared.

"Why do you do that Sensei?" Sakura questioned.

"Do what? Well we're late, let's get on our ways." Kakashi also wore a full pack. They began their expedition out of the village to the excavation site, it was rather uneventful except the occasional question from someone, often asking Naruto about stuff.

"So Naruto what kind of jutsu can you use?" Sakura asked.

"Many you wouldn't know, My mentor Al-Tair would often make up new jutsu that I'd have to learn and I'm not going to expose those unless I have to in battle." Naruto rested his hand on his sword. "I prefer to use this or my other blades in combat, it gives me a feel that I can actually do something."

"Are you saying that jutsu are useless and make someone incompetent in close combat?" Kakashi asked.

"No, I'm saying that I prefer to use close weapons, not long range jutsu." Naruto paused. "And my crossbow. I love this thing."

"What if you were to lose all your weapons?" Sakura asked.

"Then I'd use jutsu, or empty hand combat." Naruto began to feel irritated, they weren't understanding his words.

"See so even you have to use them." Sasuke added.

"No, I have never lost every single blade on my body, you see four and my throwing knife, where it used to be we'd lose our ring finger to use this arm blade, now with the technology we can keep our fingers, and on the knuckle I have a seal that has a secret blade that will only be released when I give it the secret word and the proper amount of chakra." Naruto patted his hand. "Now please stop with the questions, You should understand something before you ask about it." Naruto stopped. "Kakashi, please tell me I'm imagining this but I feel a very strong signature." Kakashi's eyes sharpened, he hadn't noticed until just then.

"You're right, everyone back to back, get ready for fight or flight." Kakashi and Sakura drew kunai, Sasuke had the katana he'd taken from the house, Naruto had his crossbow drawn and several bolts in his left hand which gripped the fore stock while the other was on the rear stock.

"I must say that you've sank rather low Kakashi, becoming a teacher" Sasuke immediately recognized the voice.

"Itachi…" He remembered the things Naruto said, never compromise the team, if he were to get angered he would do just that and they'd all die.

"Uchiha Itachi" Naruto smiled "What brings you here, may I ask? If I'm correct, you want the spirit in my navel?" Naruto pointed the crossbow in the direction of the voice, he saw movement and fired the shot, it struck a crow and pinned it to a tree. Itachi walked out from the tree line as the young assassin reloaded his weapon.

"Now that's not nice, that was my favorite bird you have just pinned to that tree. And yes I'm here for you, my partner is somewhere near by, I'm not sure where though, maybe he found that Archeologist?" Itachi thought.

"Good luck getting me, This hood serves to keep doujutsu at bay, Al-Tair told me of your infamous Mangekyou Sharingan, I won't have it." He fired the shot, the Uchiha caught the bolt inches from his face. He drew his sword and moved with blinding speed, his attempts were thwarted by a kodachi that seemed to come from nowhere. But Itachi caught the arm, twisting it outward sending him crashing to the ground. His sword stuck into the ground, Itachi picked it up, walking over to his brother he smiled.

"So little brother, do you still bear that hate for me?" Itachi held the blade up. Sasuke chuckled.

"No, I accepted my past and I'll only kill you when I know I'm ready and I won't stoop to your level for power." Itachi appeared surprised. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his back, Naruto had thrown a throwing blade and struck his back. Itachi turned, pulling the blade from his back, His expression remained the same but his eyes betrayed him showing the anger in his heart. Naruto drew his killing knife, it's blade was matte black except for the edge which shined white in the sunlight. Itachi stepped towards him slowly.

You've just made your last mistake boy." Itachi then vanished from sight and reappeared behind Naruto, but was stopped by a large bandage swathed blade.

"It's a minor wound, you can't kill him over it." said the shark faced man.

"Hoshigaki Kisame, What brings you here today?" Kakashi interrupted.

"Well you see, our leader wishes to have our young blade flinging friend here. We discovered something rather disturbing about the Jinchuuriki. We wish to eliminate them before while harnessing the power of the Bijuu." Kisame smiled to show his sharp teeth. "Thus we need to take this one alive." He saw Naruto lash out at Itachi who dropped the assassin's sword, catching it out of the air he then made a slice at Kisame's legs who jumped the blade, but barely dodged the surprise knife.

Naruto launched a flurry of kicks, sword strokes and knife swings as Itachi was rendered helpless by the Hatake who held him at bay. Naruto jumped back as the shark man swung his massive blade, he stepped in and launched his arm blade into Hoshigaki's ribs. The Akatsuki shrieked in pain as the blade went in between his ribs. Naruto smirked and twisted, causing the ribs to separate. As Kisame fell victim to pain, Naruto struck the killing blow. He was incredibly lucky that he was underestimated or he'd never have been able to kill Kisame. Itachi saw this happen and he watched in horror. Naruto removed the head before he was kicked away with impressive force from the body. Itachi retrieved it and vanished. Naruto sat up, he could feel his ribs were broken, but two ribs for an S-class missing-nin was as good a trade as he'd accept.

"Naruto, that was amazing to say the least, You're a lot better trained that I thought, Kisame was one of the best, but it also seems he gravely underestimated you. He never once used a jutsu." Kakashi said, picking up his student gingerly. "I'm proud of you, the bounty is all yours." He said.

"I'm… glad… I could be of help." Naruto muttered as unconciousness enveloped him.

**-Chapter 3:End-**

_**Author's notes:**_

_**Before you get mad at me for killing Kisame this early and for him getting killed by Naruto. I have a plan here, Itachi will obviously get a new partner who is better at the close in combat that Naruto favors. To anyone who's seen Gai and Kisame fight they know that he favors longer range and jutsu, my justification is that he underestimated Naruto. He thought he could use just his sword, and since this all happened in a matter of seconds, he really had no time to get away and fight from long range.**_

_**Secondly, Naruto wasn't trained like a ninja, so even though he's a gennin he's at least as strong as a lower level jounin. Think of it like putting a master martial artist with a bunch of brawlers who do you think is going to win? **_

_**Thank you for your time, please continue reading and leave reviews please.**_

_**Nameless. **_


	4. Power Revealed

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

-Chapter Four: Power revealed-

Naruto woke with a start, he unconsciously flicked his wrist up so as to try and activate his arm blade. Noticing he only wore his brown pants and his black shirt, he saw his cloak and his boots in a neat stack next to him. His sword, gauntlets, knives and crossbow lay next to him as well, all laid out and freshly cleaned. He dressed quickly and walked from the room he was in, leaving nothing in his room. He heard activity to his left so he walked that way. He saw Sasuke, and Sakura being tutored by Kakashi from some scroll. An old man, a younger woman and a small child watched attentively as he taught from this scroll, Kakashi looked up before speaking.

"Good, you're awake."

"How long have I been sleeping?" Naruto questioned. Flexing his seemingly long dormant muscles.

"Just over four days, you may not have realized this, but you were moving faster than even I could hope to. No one had ever gotten that close to Kisame, let alone hope to kill him at that range." Kakashi continued. "Many thought he was immortal because he was always leaving battles unharmed."

"Yeah, but obviously I'm not ready to move that fast yet."

"Clearly, where are my manners, Naruto, this is the architect Tazuna, his daughter Tsunami and her son Inari."

"Nice to meet you all." Naruto bowed slightly, he looked at Sasuke.

"You want to learn to use that sword I gave you?"

"Yes, but you're not in any shape to spar." Sasuke replied.

"You underestimate me, I just need to warm up and I'll be fine."

"Whatever, but it's not my fault if you get hurt." Sasuke stood up.

"Let me see your blade, I'll teach you a jutsu that will allow you to dull your blade so we can fight with them without decapitating each other." Naruto said a few words in a language that was incomprehensible to all except those in the Brotherhood. His finger sparked at it's tip, and then he ran it along the blade, the edge looked exactly the same but it was no more useful as a piece of curved metal. "The jutsu's name is blade duller, it's got no official seals, but the ones that will work are dragon, monkey, boar then tiger." Naruto drew his two edged hand and a half sword and used the same jutsu. "Now defend yourself." Naruto thrust his blade forward quickly, to have it parried, he went through strike after strike, landing one on his shoulder, his calf, and his ribs. Sasuke was doing okay for a beginner. Naruto stepped in and parried the blade, causing it to fly out of his hand and then he put the point to his chin. Naruto smiled under his cloak. "Dead". He picked up the blade he's knocked out of Sasuke's hand and handed it back to him.

"Why do you use such a strange sword?" Sasuke asked.

"Well you see, the brotherhood has used this sword since their beginning in Jerusalem, they brought it over from there, They crossed it with the methods to forge a katana and made an almost perfect sword. No one blade is perfect, but these are the closest thing to it." Naruto began training Sasuke, both steadily getting faster, the assassin's muscles were waking up, and Sasuke was getting used to handling a sword. They fought for an entire afternoon until dinner.

"Well, it seems you'll be nursing some new bruises Sasuke." Kakashi laughed.

"So Naruto, what's this brotherhood you spoke of earlier?" Tsunami asked.

"A group of killers. The best ones. That's all I can tell you." Naruto took a bite of the food.

"What about the ANBU, or the Akatsuki?" Tazuna asked. "Or the Seven swordsmen of the mist?"

"All have come to us for help, I recently killed one of the former Seven, who was part of the Akatsuki. so that proves that we're better than all three of them." Naruto was speaking quickly and precisely.

"You lie! No one could kill Gato's thugs!" Inari yelled.

"Boy, take care what you say, I may lose my patience." Naruto uttered in barely over a whisper, but everyone heard. Inari got up and stalked off.

"You'll have to excuse him, you don't know of Gato, he's fairly infamous around here. On top he's a regular businessman, but underground he's an overlord of some of the most powerful assassins and mercenaries. You can expect to run into one or more of his men on the way back. Especially if word of Kisame's death reaches him." Tazuna said "His men killed Inari's father. And they nearly killed many others in our village."

"Why weren't we warned of this in the briefing? we could have sent better men to protect you." Kakashi had thought they may have been deceived.

"We simply don't have the money. The artifacts my teams find are only enough to get our village by if someone buys them. Most museums within the next 30 leagues in all directions buy from us. But it's usually months or years between finds."

"I'm sure Sarutobi sensei understands."

"We'll protect you none the less, it's our duty." Naruto said.

"Once I master this blade I'll be able to fight even more efficiently than Naruto" Sasuke bragged.

"Don't get ahead of yourself. You do show promise, but I'm not just a swordsman. Plus I'm multiple times faster than you." Naruto laughed some with Sasuke, they had joked earlier when they sparred about Sasuke being better than Naruto, but they both knew who was better.

"We'll move out in five days When the convoy is ready. Until then Sasuke will train with Naruto, and I'll take Sakura and train her in other techniques." Kakashi announced. They then spent the rest of the day talking and enjoying each other's company, Inari even came down and spent some time before going outside and sitting on the porch stairs. Kakashi later came and sat with him.

"You'll have to forgive Naruto, he's not spent much time around anyone else but the brotherhood he grew up with, he nearly killed Sasuke several times when they first met, he doesn't really pay much attention to who he's talking to, he'll mouth off to anyone who isn't one of the people he grew up." Kakashi explained.

"He just doesn't get it, these guys can't be killed. They even killed daddy." Inari felt tears coming from his eyes.

"Naruto never really had parents, Al-Tair who he was raised by was his Godfather, but he doesn't have a single family member, Sasuke only has one left, but Itachi slaughtered the whole Uchiha clan. My dad also died when I was about your age, life and death are natural parts of life, they hurt sometimes, but that's also part of it." Kakashi stood up. "Just remember that Inari." He then went inside.

The next day Naruto and Sasuke were up early and at it again. Sasuke showed a slight improvement, but nothing noticeable by the untrained eye.

Naruto parried and blocked, sometimes dodging or using his arm blade to catch the weapon.

"Alright, Naruto is an exceptional climber, I've seen him scale buildings in a few seconds, Sasuke is also that way. They're more suited for that, I'll teach them the chakra control exercise later." He explained to the Kunoichi the process of focusing the chakra necessary to do the exercise, he then had her climb a tree using her feet only.

"Sensei, I did it." Sakura shouted from up in the tree.

"Good, now come down, I need to teach you some special Jutsu that I think would help you out a lot for your style of fighting." She quickly descended the tree and began to learn the jutsu from the Cyclops of a man.

Naruto and Sasuke sat exhausted from sparring, they also did some hand to hand sparring.

"Let's go for a run Sasuke." Naruto stood up, re-sharpened his blade, and sheathed it. Sasuke also did.

"Alright, just don't tire yourself out keeping up with me." Sasuke grinned as he took off.

They ran into town, but they had no intention of just running, they quickly climbed on a roof and began jumping form roof to roof at unfathomable speeds. Naruto saw a pole at the end of a group of buildings and dove forward. Catching the pole, his momentum carried him over and he planted his feet on the shaft. Sasuke stood on the top.

"You done already?"

"Hardly. Just warming up." He back flipped off the pole and began running again. There was a watch tower in the center of town, he ran to it, and found a single handhold, he ran up the wall to catch it, Sasuke immediately used him as a step ladder to catch the next one. They leap frogged all the way up the building until they reached the roof.

"So how are we getting down?" Sasuke asked.

"We jump."

"We jump?"

"We jump." Naruto muttered a few words in the magic language, and then jumped from the tower. Just before he landed, he vanished from sight and landed safely on the ground five meters away. Sasuke smirked, he'd remembered something Itachi had done once when they were younger. He began focusing chakra to the soles of his feet, and as soon as they adhered to the building, he ran down it.

"You've got all sorts of strange jutsu don't you?" Sasuke asked, jumping to the ground.

"Yeah, plenty. These are just the ones I can't really use in battle. I've got a lot of battle worthy jutsu. Come on, we've gotten our run today, let's go do some more sword practice." Naruto turned towards the direction of the house he stayed at. They arrived and went into the backyard where they normally practiced. Inari was alone swinging a stick around like a sword. He saw the two ninja and then just looked at them.

"You wanna see how it's done?" Naruto asked, smiling slightly, he drew his sword and dulled the edge, Sasuke did the same, they began fighting with the swords. Inari watched in amazement, he saw steel clash against steel, then when Sasuke lost his grip, he ducked the blade of the assassin's sword, and planted a solid fist into the ribs of the blond. The fist staggered Naruto, giving Sasuke enough time to roll backwards and grab his sword. He held it to Naruto's throat.

"Dead." He smirked.

"You got me finally, if you had one of these here…" Naruto pointed to his arm blade. "I'd really be dead. Well, now we'll start using more than just swords, Sasuke if you want to get a knife, go get one in town and we can practice with that too. I really don't want you to use the arm blade, it's our trademark in the brotherhood, I'm sure Kakashi knows a Jutsu that can emulate it though." Naruto re-sharpened his edge and sheathed it. "I've got to go shave my head again, it's been a few weeks since I last did, I'll see you at dinner." Naruto walked into the house and stood in the bathroom, he pulled out his small pocket knife, sharpened it a little, pulled his shaving gel out of his pack, and put some on his head, he began sliding the blade along his head, taking gel and stubbly hair from the top of his head, he rinsed the blade in the sink, and ran it across his head again. He repeated this until the hair on his head was all gone. "Al-Tair, I'm sorry I haven't been able to write you yet, I'll write as soon as I get home. I hope you're doing well." Naruto rinsed his blade, felt where the brotherhood had tattooed him on his scalp, and then put his hood up.

Sasuke sat in his room, thinking, today it seemed as if Naruto was slower, like he could predict his moves. He could almost feel the next move he was going to make, he focused on his eyes, trying to push chakra into them. He saw chakra signatures in the house, he could identify all of them, he then looked in the mirror, his iris' were red, each with two flame like marks around the pupil. He'd awakened the Sharingan.

-Chapter Four: End-

_**Author's notes: Okay if anyone's read the book Eragon they'd know where I got the idea for the language that activates Naruto's jutsu, but in my story it's not some ancient long lost language, It's just the language of their ancestors, yes Arabic. Naruto and Sasuke are definitely growing closer, and Sasuke's going to have his Sharingan slightly earlier because I want him and Kakashi to have some time together so he can learn the skills required to manipulate it. Please continue reading & reviewing.**_

_**Nameless**_


	5. Team Building

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

-Chapter 5: Team Building-

Naruto and Sasuke had built quite a friendship over the swordplay lessons that Naruto was giving to his house mate. They also practiced with daggers, but considerably less. Tazuna said that they would be moving towards Konoha the day after next, so they packed their gear. Sasuke and Naruto spent the day practicing their blades, Sakura was doing something with Kakashi like it had been for the past few days. Naruto stopped the training with Sasuke early, he'd wanted to see what was going on.

"Sasuke, let's go find out what's going on with Sakura and Kakashi." Naruto un-dulled his blade and sheathed it. Sasuke mimicked his friend. They remembered seeing the other members of his team walk northeast. They followed the path into the forest. Naruto and Sasuke saw Sakura striking a tree that had a large dent in it, a conditioning used for styles like Karate. He smiled, he could feel that her chakra had grown as well. A knife struck the tree next to him.

"Naruto, quit sneaking around where you don't need to." Kakashi announced. Sasuke and Naruto walked out, both grinning.

"So you've been training her in hand to hand combat?" Naruto asked.

"Among other things yes. Say Sasuke, let's see how well you can do with that dagger. Sakura!" Sakura reached behind her and drew a tanto. She used the jutsu that Naruto had shown Sasuke. Sasuke smirked, drew the one edged dagger that he had gotten from Naruto, did the same and stepped forward.

Sakura stood with her knife in her right hand, her left the front hand. Sasuke stood crouched with his dagger in his left hand, Naruto had taught him the use of is with his off hand so he could wield both his sword and dagger. He held it in reverse grip, stepping forward he ducked under the first thrust and lashed out with the butt of the knife. Sakura put her hand out to intercept the pommel, dropping her blade down, barely missing Sasuke. Sasuke caught Sakura's wrist and stepped around her, pulling her arm over her shoulder and throwing her with a Judo style shoulder throw. Sasuke waited for her to stand, flipping his dagger in a forward grip, he assumed a similar position as her, she stepped in and then dropped, to try a leg sweep, but Sasuke jumped over the leg, slashing downward only to have her roll back. As she stood, Sasuke lunged and with an open hand strike knocked the wind from her, she fell to one knee. He put his blade to her throat and said the single word.

"Dead." he re-edged his blade and sheathed it, helping her up. "But you've improved a great deal, I remember watching you use the tanto in the academy, you were terrible at it."

"Thank You Sasuke, Naruto has also helped you a lot." Sakura blushed slightly at the compliment.

"Naruto also taught me a great deal of empty hand fighting, early on I kept losing my sword so he showed me how to get inside someone's range and take them down from there." Kakashi seemed mildly interested in the conversation. They were behaving more like a team than before when Naruto would likely have killed Sasuke as helped him. He'd been teaching Sakura about chakra control, how to use the kodachi and tanto, and several jutsu. She had an affinity for water jutsu which weren't his best but he knew a great deal still because of his time spent in the ANBU. Sasuke had shown the usual Uchiha fire affinity, he didn't know what Naruto used.

"Naruto, what kind of jutsu do you use?" Kakashi inquired.

"My best are wind and fire. But I can use all sorts of other ones." He replied.

"I see." Naruto's eyes suddenly sharpened, he sensed something that wasn't right.

"Sir, we need to get back to the house, something doesn't seem right." Naruto turned and began running at his unnatural pace towards the house.

They arrived to see the door cut to ribbons, he drew his sword and walked into the courtyard. They heard Tazuna's daughter Tsunami scream.

Naruto ran to see two men carrying katana, one had grabbed Tsunami by the hair.

"Let her go!" Naruto stepped forward but topped when the samurai put his tanto to her neck.

"Now now, this is one of the Konoha ninja that was hired by Tazuna huh?" He looked at his friend and nodded, he removed his tanto from Tsunami's neck and drew his sword. Both men charged him, he ducked the overheard strike, using his arm blade to impale one man and end his life immediately, he then pushed the body in the direction of his other enemy and then stepped forward and used his sword, cutting the man down. He wiped his sword clean and then walked over to Tsunami.

"Are you okay ma'am?" He asked politely.

"Yes, make sure Inari and father are okay!"

"The others are on it."

In another part of the house, Sasuke had drawn his dagger, the hallway was to narrow for his sword. He heard Inari cry out in fear. He ran to the room where Inari stayed in and saw two men dressed in black outfits, one holding a wakizashi. He threw a kunai, killing one in an instant, he then stepped back as the other swung his short sword, catching the arm, he cut the face, then the arm and finally he cut the man's chest open, finishing with a thrust to the heart. He saw to it that Inari was fine.

Sakura and Kakashi had walked around back to where Tazuna would enjoy his tea, seeing him surrounded by multiple men, Sakura threw two shuriken, one hit a man's chest, the other hit nothing. They used the distraction and moved in quickly, Sakura grabbing Tazuna and moving away as Kakashi eliminated all threats.

All met in the courtyard of the house.

"Kakashi, who were these men?"

"Just some thugs hired no doubt by men who wish to kill Tazuna and get his artifact." Kakashi saw the convoy coming down the road. "Everyone, grab your stuff, we're heading out." They all went to their separate rooms and got their bags. When everyone returned they set out towards Konoha. It was only a two day expedition so it would not take that long. They set out shortly after everyone returned.

For the most part the first day went rather uneventfully. A man had sprained his ankle on a rather steep hill, but that was the only mishap. Naruto had taken the final watch, he sat with the fire in front of him, but he didn't look at it. He heard a noise behind him, and he turned, his arm blade ejecting from its casing. He saw Sasuke standing there, carrying his sword.

"Sasuke, you can sleep for another hour, we don't leave until sunset." Naruto said, closing his lethal companion.

"I know, but I couldn't get back to sleep, so I decided to give you an hour of sleep." Sasuke smirked slightly, looking at his best friend. He sat in front of the fire, and waved off his friend. Naruto simply laid down and went into a light sleep.

Naruto jumped to his feet at the sudden noise. The noise was Sakura waking up and screaming when she found a spider had joined her on her bed roll. Naruto had never expected that she'd be afraid of spiders. Naruto laughed, but then realized that the sun had risen all the way so they could move out again.

The first half of the trip, seemed rather boring, they ate breakfast, packed up and then left the rest spot. They arrived in a massive plains, one they had crossed on the way there. Naruto sensed something and then yelled.

"EVERYONE HIT THE DECK!" Naruto was down, the rest of the convoy as well, then a flurry of arrows went flying above. Naruto pulled his crossbow off his back and three bolts, he loaded one, then reached his senses to search for one of the men that had shot at them. He found one, adjusted his aim and fired, he loaded another, then rose to a crouch, and ran in that direction. Everyone else stayed to guard the eight non shinobi members of the group. The assassin ran at a surprising speed for his stance. He found another member of the enemy group and promptly planted a bolt in his chest. He loaded his third bolt and saw another in the grass, he fired, seeing the final member he could see with a bow fall. He stood, sensing a fourth presence.

"Uzumaki Naruto, your reputation is fast becoming one that is worth being heard about." A somewhat feminine voice said from the grass. He stood and smiled. "The name's Yumeshi Arima."

"What do you want?" Naruto spat.

"Well, me and my friends, most of which are hiding still, want that artifact that you have." He drew a katana. "So we'll take it from you all." He dashed forward swinging the long blade. Naruto blocked with the blade on his arm, he drew his sword and swung for the man's mid-section. He stepped back, and came in with another swing.

Kakashi had a kunai drawn, Sakura her tanto and Sasuke had his katana out, they could hear the mercenaries encircling their position. Sasuke stuck his katana in the ground and began making seals.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball Jutsu!" He breathed a massive fireball that set many of the enemies ablaze as well as a portion of the field. Naruto looked back and saw his friend light the field on fire.

"That idiot! He's gonna kill us all!" He put up his sword to block the blade that came in.

"Naruto you forgot about me!" Arima yelled, thrusting his sword only to have it parried. Arima jumped back several meters, and began making seals, Naruto in an effort to stop him threw a knife which became lodged in his chest, as he staggered back, Naruto stepped in and launched a flurry of sword swings at the man, only to find his defense was very well put together. Kakashi picked off the enemies with the deadly efficiency to be expected of the ANBU while he also watched Sakura and Sasuke's back. The three of them all guarded each other as well as the archeologists while fighting the massive number of inexperienced thugs.

Naruto blocked another downward stroke, he then smiled, this man was rather repetitive, so he came up with an idea. As the man came down with a stroke of his blade, Naruto blocked it and parried it to his left, he then came in with his arm blade and planted it firmly in his ribs.

"You fought me too long for your repetitive style to be of any use to you Arima." Naruto turned the blade and then pulled it out. Naruto closed the man's eyes and then rushed to help his comrades. He threw knives into the crowd, killing men as he ran. He then used his sword to cut a path into the middle.

When the fighting ended, the three gennin were exhausted, Naruto especially. Kakashi looked at the man Naruto had killed.

"Naruto, I know I said you were going to have Kisame's bounty to yourself, but you just made another ten thousand ryou, Yumeshi is one of the strongest ronin in the land. So perhaps you could lend your sensei a few thousand ryou?" Kakashi laughed sarcastically. Naruto had made over one hundred thousand ryou in one mission.

"Hmm? Take the cash from this guy, I don't care. I never had much use for a whole mess of money." Naruto decapitated the man he'd just killed. He now had two heads to take home.

"Naruto, you're incredibly lucky, how have you killed two wanted men in one mission?" Sakura asked.

"Al-Tair and the brotherhood never once took my training lightly, your ninja training pales in comparison to our assassin training." Naruto cleaned his blades of the blood and sheathed them. They were only just under ten miles from home so Naruto could collect his small fortune soon.

_-Some Distance away-_

Itachi was knelt before his leader, after explaining that Naruto had murdered his partner, he came to ask for a new one.

"So you say that he's a master of swords as well as other close combat skills?" the leader's detached voice questioned.

"Yes sir. He killed Kisame from close range with the arm blade that I spoke of, and inured me with a throwing knife, he appears to use a lot of weapon based arts."

"Then we'll require someone who uses the opposite. Satsuki!" Pein barked .

"Yes Sir!" The voice was female.

"Accompany Itachi and capture this Uzumaki Naruto, we require his Bijuu as well as his head. Take him alive, no killing the Jinchuuriki like last time."

"Yes sir."

-Chapter Five: End-


	6. Chuunin Exams Part One

Standard Disclaimer applies.

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts of humans, flashbacks or letters_

**Bold is supernatural forces speaking**

_**Bold-Italics are thoughts of supernatural force**_

-Chapter Six: Chunin Exams Part One-

Sasuke woke quickly, he heard an abnormal sound. The last month since he'd returned from the mission in which he'd escorted the archeologist had been strange, he'd been training almost non stop with Sakura and Naruto. They were all highly skilled in Taijutsu and two of the three were adept in Ninjutsu, Naruto called his skills jutsu but they had none of the properties of them. Naruto used that strange language to use his chakra, what had he called it? Arabic…Yeah that was it, Arabic. He spoke quickly and it was strange sounding, it bore none of the same structure as Japanese. It sounded rather unstructured to the shinobi of the leaf that had heard him on the rare occasion he used a jutsu. He also saw Naruto writing a great deal, never really questioning it.

Sasuke quickly rose from his bed and dressed, he grabbed his sword, and ran in the direction of the sound. What he saw surprised him. Naruto was standing where the sliding bag was, but the bag was gone. He saw the massive pile of sand near the wall, Naruto had kicked the bag so hard that it broke off the chain and slammed against the wall, tearing and spilling it's contents all over the floor. He looked up as Sasuke walked in.

"I got a little carried away. I kicked it a bit harder than I should have."

"No kidding. So, have you seen Sakura since our last training session?"

"No, but I'm going to see her a little later." Naruto didn't even bother to clear up the sand. "Why?"

"No reason in particular." Sasuke walked away wearing his smirk like usual. Naruto was a bit confused, Sasuke seemed different as of late. Naruto then walked into the storage room of the house and brought out a snow shovel, he then shoveled the sand out the window.

Naruto walked the streets of Konoha, trying for the life of him to remember where that Yamanaka flower shop she told him to meet her at was. After much time wandering he pulled a woman aside and asked her of the location, eventually he found it. He walked in, going to the counter, he rang the bell. He had imagined that he would see the shop owner, but he was surprised.

"YOU!" Ino shouted. "You're the one that Sakura was meeting today?"

"I imagined that she would have told you she was meeting me here. Do your parents own this place? It's nice, it reminds me of the greenhouses that we had back in Masyaf."

"No, she just said that she was meeting a friend here. I'll bring her down, feel free to look at the flowers, but please don't touch any." Ino went back up the stairs, going to go get her friend.

Naruto browsed the assortment of the brightly colored flowers and plants, he heard footsteps so he returned to the counter. What he saw shocked him, Sakura wore her usual outfit but looked totally different because she'd heeded Naruto's advice the first time he'd met her. She cut her hair to just above her shoulders. Had Naruto been any less of a shinobi, he would have probably suffered from what he'd nicknamed slackjaw syndrome. He actually clenched his jaw slightly to make sure he did no such thing.

"Sasuke said something this morning, kind of. But it does look really good, just as I'd predicted Sakura." Naruto smiled slightly, He really liked it, but he couldn't let her know that, she'd never let him be if he told her anything else. He had over the month he'd gotten to know her, felt some emotions begin to rise. He had pushed them away, he didn't want to create that sort of relationship until he was a little older. He was only twelve after all.

"You like it huh? I sort of got tired of all the time it takes to keep my long hair in good condition. So I cut it short." She told a partial truth, she didn't like taking care of it, but she also did it because she liked Naruto.

"I do imagine that it would take quite a bit to keep it in good care. We should go, I don't think that Ms. Yamanaka will enjoy us sitting around and chatting in her shop all day." Naruto waited for her to come, and they left the shop. They walked around for a while, simply just hanging out and talking as friends do, when they saw something rather strange…Sand Ninja.

"Sakura, you know what to do, take the left side." Naruto moved to the right, they were going to flank these strange ninja. Naruto cleared the fence that created the walkway, he then moved up the tree, still staying out of sight and sense of the shinobi. He sat and waited for the perfect time, when suddenly a small academy student that Naruto recognized as Sarutobi Konohamaru ran into one of the sand ninja. The boy then got struck by the male ninja. The assassin drew one of his throwing knives and loosed it on the foreign ninja dressed in black with a large bundle on his back. The man ducked the knife, at that moment Sakura jumped the opposing fence and held a blade to the other sand ninja, a blond girl with a large battle fan, Naruto jumped from the tree, high into the air with his crossbow firing on his target, he landed while simultaneously holstering his crossbow, he landed in front of the ninja and drew his killing knife, he stepped in and held the blade to his neck.

"Speak quickly, why are you here and why did you strike Konohamaru who is clearly a weaker ninja?" Naruto demanded.

"You Konoha ninja need not worry about our presence, we mean no harm, my brother is an idiot, that's why he struck the child." Another ninja said in a voice that carried so much venom that it could kill with the right words.

"Then give me your names" Naruto lowered his blade slightly, showing trust.

"Kankuro, I'm Kankuro. That's my sister Temari and my brother Gaara, we're here for the Chunnin exams."

"Ah yes, why did I forget about those, I apologize for attacking you, my name is Uzumaki Naruto, I come from Masyaf but I am in service to this country."

"Masyaf you say?" Temari showed some interest, Sakura lowered her blade and sheathed it across her lower back.

"Yes, my father had me raised there when he passed."

"Who's son are you?" Gaara asked. Naruto pointed to the carving of his father's face on the mountain.

"You're the son of the fourth? In my country I am as well." Gaara showed something that only he would call a smile, any others would call it a twitch of the lips.

"I can sense another similarity we have." Naruto smiled, they knew what they were speaking of, but no others.

"I can as well, I wish to fight you in the Chunnin exams."

"I as well." Naruto motioned for Sakura to follow him. "It was good to meet you siblings of the sand Jinchuuriki."

"It was good to meet you son of the fourth." They then parted and Sakura had many questions.

"What's a Jinchuuriki Naruto and how did you know he was one."

"We are containers of demons, we carry a burden and a gift."

"How is being a demon a gift?"

"You make a mistake. We're not demons, we imprison them, our bodies keep them from killing everything. I have physical power that will go unmatched by all others. The demon's sheer power will rub off on us just by their spirits being in us." Naruto explained.

"Which one do you carry?"

"The nine tailed fox. My father couldn't kill it, so he sealed it in my navel the day I was born."

"Oh… So that's why you went away so that nobody here would try and harm you?"

"Basically, plus the only people that my father trusted as much as Al-Tair were Jiraiya and Sarutobi, both of which are unfit to raise me and protect me well enough. No matter how powerful they are."

"Why do you keep your hair short Naruto? The fourth kept his long, as many ninja do."

"Because that's how I was raised, keeping it short requires less maintenance and work. You're a curious person aren't you?"

"Not usually, but you interest me…" Sakura began to blush.

"I see, let's find Kakashi, he needed me for something today."

"Okay." Sakura followed as he moved toward Kakashi's house.

When they finally reached his house, they found him sharing a meal with some strange looking Jounin.

"Who's your friend Kakashi?" Naruto asked. In the blink of an eye she vanished, holding a kunai to his cheek.

"Were you an enemy I would have killed you already." The purple haired jounin had sliced his cheek ever so slightly.

"We'd both be dead then." Naruto had extended his arm blade and it was barely touching her skin. She hadn't noticed it.

"This is Mitarashi Anko, one of the exam proctors, an old drinking buddy of mine." Kakashi introduced his students to his friend.

"Why did you need me here today?"

"I was going to give you these and have you deliver them." He handed him three papers. The papers were the forms for the Chunnin exams.

"Thank you Kakashi, I'll give the form to Sasuke. Goodbye crazy woman." With that, Naruto left.

_-The next day-_

Naruto and Sasuke had woken up early, in order to meet Sakura so they could go to the first exam today. They arrived at the academy, and found a crowd around the door to the next floor.

"Let us through, we need to get into the room for the exam." A female ninja said to another ninja in front of the door.

"We're trying to help you by only letting the best through." The ninja said.

"Obviously you don't excel in Genjutsu, look out the windows people, we're only two floors up, plus you'd have to be an idiot to not notice the obvious signs of a poor Genjutsu." Naruto stepped forward.

"A wise guy huh?" the ninja stepped forward "Let's see how wise you are now!" He threw a kick which Naruto blocked with his elbow, then looped his arm over the leg, placed his heel behind his opponents and slammed his palm into the ninja's chest, slamming him into the ground (1).

"You underestimate the gennin of this village, especially ones who are not natives to your land. Always assume your enemy has every advantage over you!" Naruto educated the crowd.

"What is your name friend?" A Hyuuga asked.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto. You're a Hyuuga but which one?" Naruto turned around

"I am Hyuuga Neji, I also recognize Uchiha Sasuke. I want to fight you both." Neji replied

"You can assure I will fight you." Naruto then turned and went with his team up the stairs and went to the real room they were supposed to be in. They reached the sparring room for that floor, which was just in front of room 307. A ninja with a bowl cut and a green spandex stood proudly before them.

"UZUMAKI NARUTO! I WISH FOR YOU TO SHOW YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH!"

"You wish for a fight? Who challenges me?"

"I am Rock Lee, Student of Maito Gai sensei."

"we can finish this before the exam starts." Naruto assumed his brotherhood's fighting stance, front foot slightly forward, hands up but open.

Lee dashed forward, kicking with bone jarring force, Naruto ducked, placing a quick jab to his enemy's knee. He stood up and then placed several quick strikes to Lee's body. Lee dodged a punch and slammed a rock hard fist into his ribs, sending him flying back. Naruto sensed the wall fast approaching and he used it to spring himself forward. He threw a fist straight forward with as much force as he could muster, Lee caught it but was knocked back slightly. Naruto landed and used his other hand to palm strike Lee, his wind left him as he fell to his knees.

"You fight well Rock Lee, I am lucky to have fought you." He reached a hand down which Lee accepted.

"Your Flames Of Youth burn brightly Naruto! I wish to fight you again after I do five thousand push ups, sit ups and laps around Konoha!" Lee bowed low and ran into the exam room.

"You clobbered that kid Naruto!" Sakura shouted

"No, I didn't, he was holding back, even that single punch was nothing compared to what he could do." Naruto could feel the large bruise forming already.

"He's strong, and fast, I could barely keep up with that fight." Sasuke said, they then headed to the exam room and saw dozens of teams of ninja from other countries. These were the cream of the gennin crop.

**-Chapter Six: End-**

_**Author's Note: (1) This is a move from the M.C.M.A.P. (Marine Corps Martial Arts Program) called the Round house defense, it's a really simple move to perfect. I made the fight quick with Lee because Naruto is specialized in quick killing, so all his fighting styles are quick and efficient. The exam starts next chapter and is going to be different than the original exam. Please give any reviews or advice you may have.**_

_**Nameless**_


	7. Chuunin Exams Part Two

I own Naruto and Assassin's Creed as much as I own The U.S. army. (I don't)

_Italics are thoughts._

**Bold are supernatural forces.**

-Chapter Seven: Chuunin Exam Part Two-

Naruto, being the natural, unannounced leader in Kakashi's absence, lead them to the exam room, they wandered around, saying hi to all the shinobi they knew, some more interested in meeting them than others.

"Sasuke!" said ninja ducked as he ducked, dodging the flying tackle that would come from only Yamanaka Ino.

"Ino, didn't I tell you that would never work." Sakura smiled, helping her friend up. "You can't scream before you dive." her smile broke into a grin.

"Like you've had any better luck, Mr. Tall dark and hooded over there pays no attention to you either."

"I'm making progress, he did compliment me on my looks, and he's been helping train me. Sasuke hasn't even really acknowledged, so I am in fact having better luck." Sakura felt some sense of dominance over her friend.

"Well… Okay, I admit it, you've got me beat for now."

"Who ever said anything about me ever actually wishing to be with Sakura though?" Naruto came back, surprising both girls.

"Naruto, don't even play. Even I can tell you like her." Sasuke smirked. A burst of smoke interrupted their banter, all eyes were suddenly on the desk where a dozen exam proctors stood.

"Silence! I'm your exam proctor Morino Ibiki, and this is my partner, Yamanaka Inoichi, we are this villages interrogation specialists."

The entire room was suddenly suffocatingly tense. "For the first exam, your mental strength will be put to the test. You will each be given a piece of knowledge, and then be tortured using methods that are used on enemy Chuunin, none of which will scar you permanently but they are still painful and trying." Ibiki said, grinning like a madman. "Anyone who wishes will be dropped from the exam and will leave, but if you continue and fail, you will never become a Chuunin, stuck as a Gennin." Inoichi then stepped in.

"You will however be able to back out without giving up the knowledge, you will also be given a capsule, that when bitten down on will turn your mouth green, the dye can be washed out, but it will represent suicide while under interrogation, which will also allow you to pass, if you don't just kill yourself at the start, we will deem whether or not you withstood enough torture to test you appropriately." Inoichi stayed stoic, not showing any emotion while Ibiki grinned like a mental case."Any who wish to drop out may do so now." Many hands raised over the course of a minute or so, several dozen shinobi dropped out, leaving a total of sixty eight gennin, twenty six three man cells, all three of the rookie nine, the sand team, team Gai, the sound team, and several other teams. When Ibiki and Inoichi saw no other teams dropping out, he smiled, but not in that same insane grin like before. He began laughing, all the proctors also laughed along with him, Naruto began to see why, he cracked a grin as well. Everyone else just stood, perplexed not really understanding what was so funny.

"All that are remaining in this room… You pass the first exam."

"What?! What about the torture?"

"Sir, may I explain? I believe I understand."

"Go for it."

"This test was quite simple actually." Naruto began. "They were testing us to see if we were willing to put our lives on the line to protect what knowledge we were given even if we didn't know our mission." Naruto explained.

"So it was all a trick?" Another Gennin shouted out

"Basically." Naruto answered. As he did, a black object crashed through the window, everyone either hit the deck or went into a state of shock. The black object happened to be the second exam proctor wrapped in a giant black canvas banner. It read "Second Exam Proctor Mitarashi Anko".

"You left twenty six teams still here Ibiki? What kind of proctor are you? I'll cut the numbers in half, I guarantee you that."

"Good luck Anko, there's some good ones here, I can already tell you that." Inoichi answered.

"Whatever, Come with me, all of You!" Anko yelled. All followed without question. They arrived at the gate of training ground 44, Anko grinned insanely, like all the other exam proctors, she was insane.

"Well now kiddies, before the games begin, I have to explain the rules. You'll be given the scroll, heaven or earth, each team given a different one, the point is that you will have to fight to get your opposing scroll." Anko's grin lessened, then she pulled a sheaf of papers from seemingly nowhere. "These are waivers. This way if you die in the five days you'll be in there, your parents or guardians can't come after us. Each of you will need to fill these out. When you turn them in you'll get the scroll and the gate number that you'll be starting at." a grin split Anko's face again, as she flung a kunai in the direction of Naruto, he caught it, only to find that she was behind him with another kunai to his throat. "You're a quick one assassin. You must be the kid that Al-Tair brought a few months back. Be careful out there." She took her other kunai, and then passed out the waivers.

After about twenty minutes all the waivers were in and the scrolls were passed out. Each team went to their respective gates. There was a buzzer above the gate that signaled the beginning of the exam. Each team began their hunt right there. After roughly an hour Team 7 covered about half a league. Naruto took the lead of the formation with Sakura bringing up his rear right flank, Sasuke taking the opposite side. Naruto stopped, drawing his crossbow, he shouldered it and aimed. The bolt loosed and nearly caught someone in the head. The member of the rain team looked over but didn't see any of the Konoha team. He saw the bolt embedded in the tree. Suddenly he turned to run, the bolt had an explosive tag on it. It detonated, sending the rain shinobi flying, Naruto jumped from a bush, apprehending him quickly, Sasuke and Sakura attacked the other two, quickly rendering them immobile.

All three searched the enemies and only found another Earth scroll, which they kept regardless. Naruto ducked as a kunai was sent his way. HE saw a grass nin standing atop a tree branch.

"What do you want? If you have an earth scroll it will do you no good to fight us." Naruto started, he drew his crossbow, loading a bolt.

"Then I'm in luck, you have just what I need." The ninja dashed forward with blinding speed, he'd been trained well. Naruto fired the bolt to the right of him, predicting his dodging that way, as he dodged the opposite way, Sasuke intercepted him, his dagger was drawn and he attacked the shinobi. The grass ninja took the blade in the chest, but it seemed to go right through him, Sasuke was surprised when he felt a foot slam into his back. He used a hand to keep himself from crashing into the ground, only to have the ninja come speeding down towards him. Sakura took her cue to attack, throwing a kunai, then immediately following it, she pulled her tanto and jumped, lashing out with a kick, which was caught, only to distract the grass nin from the throwing knife from Naruto, and the rising thrust from Sasuke which came right up the back of the enemy. The grass nin used a Kawarimi no jutsu and surprised them, but Sasuke had already begun making the seals to destroy the position of the enemy.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no jutsu!" Sasuke breathed a giant ball of flame right where he sensed the ninja, but the ninja moved on Sakura's position, which Naruto had protected, he dashed in with his sword and attacked the enemy. He decapitated the man, as the body fell to It's knees. They searched the body, found their scroll, and then immediately ran towards the center of the forest. They set off only to be stopped by the grass nin's comrades. They stood in front of the two, one carried a katana, the other carried basic ninja gear.

"You killed our friend. Now you'll die." The swordsman drew his blade. Naruto stepped forward to accept that shinobi's, he drew his hand and a half sword, and settled into a sword fighting stance.

"Come." Was all he said, the grass shinobi dashed forward, swinging his katana, his movements telegraphed to Naruto's trained eye. The assassin blocked and parried, slamming his fist into the enemy's face, knocking him back, he then muttered something in Arabic, which caused the shinobi to burst into flames. The other shinobi saw what happened to his comrade and began running, Naruto drew his crossbow, and fired the bolt loaded into the enemy's back. He loaded another as the enemy fell, and put it away.

"Why'd you kill him even though he ran away?" Sakura asked.

"Because he was a coward, the other one fought to his death, trying to avenge his friend, this one ran away, he didn't deserve to be a shinobi." Naruto replied.

"I thought you didn't use Jutsu. You just used one." Sasuke pointed out.

"I said I usually don't like to, but I wanted to end it quickly, the faster we arrive at the tower the better." Naruto replied. Sasuke nodded in a silent "Oh." and they set off towards the tower. They ran for another hour, stopping only to catch some lunch out of the river, which took about two hours to catch the fish, six in total, two for each, prepare and cook them, and to eat them. Ultimately it took five hours to arrive at the tower. They saw the framed message, read it over, and ultimately decided that they should open the scrolls. Smoke began to come from them, Sakura recognized this as a summoning jutsu, so they dropped them, and stepped back. Kakashi appeared standing atop the scrolls.

"Hey guys, you made very good progress. Only the sand team are here other than you." Kakashi smiled beneath his mask, an invisible gesture that his team learned to recognize by the slight creasing of the skin around his eyes.

"That's thanks to Naruto mostly, he found the grass ninja that had our other scroll." Sasuke gave the credit to him, Naruto however told the truth.

"No, we all had a big part to play, I wouldn't have been able to take that guy and his friends by myself. It's thanks to all of us that we passed." Naruto's smile beneath his hood was visible, but slightly shadowed.

"Then you have no doubt learned the value of teamwork in the field?"

"Yes, sensei, we have." Sakura spoke.

"Then you have done well, Always remember that your greatest ally is your teammates, your greatest weapon is your mind, and that a cool head will see you through anything, when you are on a mission, always remember that those who break the rules are trash. But those who abandon their friends, are worse than the trash, and should be struck down by the gods." Kakashi spoke to his team in a voice unfamiliar to them, it was serious, not his usual lazy drawl.

"We'll remember that Kakashi." Naruto said, he was always the unspoken leader of the team in absence of higher ranking shinobi.

"Then I'll see you in five days, get some rest, eat, and sharpen your skills, the final exam is a single man exam. But I can tell you no more than that." With that the silver haired shinobi left.

Team Seven had passed the second part of the exam.

-Chapter 7:End-

_**Author's Note: I'm sorry I took so long, and that the chapter is shorter than usual, but things have been troublesome to say the least. Orochimaru doesn't appear quite yet because things are going to go about differently than usual, because I'm not making Sasuke a traitor. He will not be receiving the curse seal.**_


	8. Chuunin Exams: Preliminaries

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed, if I did, I would be LOADED, and there would be several changes to both.

**Bold are demons or other supernatural forces speaking**

_Italics are thoughts or flashbacks_

-Chapter Eight: Chuunin Exams: Preliminaries-

Three days had passed since Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura had arrived at the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death. Naruto spent most of the time doing some sort of preparation, meditating, or conditioning his body, Sakura had spent much of her time also preparing and conditioning, Sasuke also prepared, but he also spent a great deal of time reading a small book that he'd taken from his family's library. Since he had discovered his Sharingan he'd been reading about it voraciously, trying to glean any bit of information he could about the doujutsu. Naruto did however warn him about becoming too dependent on one weapon, saying that it would help him, but if he became too used to using it then the inherited ability would become a hindrance. Naruto was currently in the training room with Sakura teaching her what Al-Tair and many of the other in the brotherhood called "Last ditch combat skills"(1).

"So it's simple, no matter what angle you come at, you can just use your forearm, swing it, and at least it will cause a distraction, with which you can come with a palm strike to the face, or like I did to Sasuke, slam your palm into the chin, and then take his head to the ground, let me demonstrate." Naruto made a clone of himself, which stood behind him, and drew the killing knife, and came in, Naruto swung his arm, pushing the attacker Naruto's blade away, and delivered a bone crushing palm strike to the temple, resulting in what would be a paralyzing blow at minimum. The clone vanished. "These are good techniques for if you're surprised, they can also be used against groups, say you're attacked in a narrow hallway where normal martial arts are useless, I'll make a clone, and you can do it." Naruto made a clone, and had it attack with it's knife, she used the "Edge of Hand"(2) As Naruto had called it, striking the attacker's arm away, and she slammed her palm into the throat of the enemy, then took him by the chin and slammed his skull into the ground. The clone disappeared, which represented a lethal blow.

"That was surprisingly easy, a lot more natural than most unarmed combat." Sakura said, surprised and proud that she'd picked it up so quickly.

"You did it well, as you just learned these are also relatively easy to pick up. That's what makes them instinctual attacks, they can be learned and used without complex thought or movement. Many civilians also learn these, but since most shinobi have much stronger bodies, they are even more effective." Naruto then took a fighting stance, and told her to do this as well. She attacked him, aiming a palm strike to his stomach, he caught her hand, and went to strike her throat with a knife hand, but stopped mere millimeters away from her esophagus. "When attacking with these, you always want to go for lethal spots, Kunoichi who learn these and go on missions where they have to go undercover will often aim a palm strike at the groin, it is a good tactic, if you ever have to do that, remember these skills and it will help you out, even if you're found out and your weapons are taken." He stepped back, and produced a pair of metal handcuffs. "Now in the brotherhood we are given a lock pick set that is hidden in our boots, but let me show you something." He turned her about and cuffed her, he found a chair and instructed her to sit down. "Now say you are taken hostage, or captured you will be restrained and most likely drugged, so when placed in a chair or cell, what is the first thing you want to do?" Naruto asked.

"Get your hands in front of you." Sakura answered.

"Exactly, so say you're being interrogated, have no lock pick set, and are heavily drugged so you can't break the chains or ropes." He grabbed the chair and slowly lowered it to the ground. "Now here, is the most common place to try and do anything, so it's most predicted, however, when drugged, you may not think clearly. Say, like Ibiki and Inoichi said, you want to take your own life, try this, and they will likely strike you, this is true, but any interrogator will only kill you if they grow tired of torture, or you strike them." Naruto instructed her to try and escape, she did something he didn't predict. Sakura dislocated her shoulders and rolled backwards, with her arms now in front of her, she stood up. "That was interesting, so here, you're handcuffed, possibly drugged, but you can use the handcuffs to your advantage." He drew his sword. "If attacked with a blade, catch it with the chain, if you're roped up, don't do this unless you can perform medical jutsu on the fly. But there's a split second where you can break chains upon a sword strike and not let it through." He swung at her, and she caught it. "Now right as this happens, catch the lowest point you can, and slide, to grab the hilt, and you can guess where it goes from there." She slid down slowly so as not to cut the chains on Naruto's razor sharp sword.

"You could use a palm strike to the face." Sakura answered.

"Exactly, now if you're outnumbered, and have already taken out the sword wielder, you can use the pivoting motion to deliver a pretty damn powerful kick, Al-Tair's friend Hassan nicknamed the kick the "Whip Kick" because it only uses centrifugal force." Naruto removed the hand cuffs, and made several cuffs. "Now here's the motion, you've attacked one man, disabling him, and turn, swinging a leg low, for the knees or ankles." He used a palm strike on one and immediately turned to apprehend another enemy by swinging his leg into the knee, and then stepping close, using the already falling clone's momentum to slam his skull against the ground.

"Again, that looks deceptively simple." Sakura noted.

"That's how it's supposed to be, simple, effective and efficient. Try this one and that'll be it for now, it's about dinner time." Naruto had two clones left, and had one attack her from the front first, she used the palm strike to hit the clone's throat, crushing his windpipe, and turned, swinging her foot, to hit the knee of her other enemy, and quickly palmed the clone's skull into the ground. "That's just how it's done, the reason I have you finish with the chin jab as it's called is because by taking the chin and driving the head into the ground you can kill with minimum energy and it uses massive force, plus our clan uses these arm blades, so if we don't slam them into the ground it pierces soft flesh." Naruto explained. Sakura grinned with pride, she'd become such a strong Kunoichi since Naruto had inspired her to take her training seriously, she did something he didn't expect, she stood and hugged him.

"Thank you Naruto, you've helped me so much." With that she left, leaving Naruto to ponder what had just happened. He simply went to the dining hall in thought.

-Two Days Later-

All the remaining teams finished, this included the Sand team, the Sound team, one Konoha team Naruto had never cared about really, The entire Rookie Nine, and Team Gai. Eighteen total, they were called to the stadium, where all the Jounin sensei, Mitarashi Anko, some sickly looking Jounin swordsman, and the Hokage were all assembled. The students lined up in three rows of six, standing there, they listened to the Hokage rant about how the Chuunin exams were designed as an alternative to war. Eventually he turned over the speaking role to the sickly looking Jounin who was called Gekkou Hayate.

"Well, as you may know, we've only got ten available positions for the finals of the exam, we need to have these preliminaries to eliminate those who won't be able to fit in the roster, any one who doesn't feel able to participate may back out now, you will be disqualified." Hayate allowed people to back out, Yakushi Kabuto opted to leave, saying he felt rather unwell.

"Alright, no one else then? You'll be paired with your opponent randomly, both names will appear on that reader board. The first battle should appear in a moment." Hayate waited, and surely, two names appeared.

-Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi-

"Right, now if you'll both come to the middle, the rest of the contestants will wait until their turn up there." He pointed to the upper level of the stadium. Sasuke smiled, he had an opponent who felt strong.

"You may start whenever you feel ready." Hayate said, and coughed shortly afterward. Yoroi dashed forward, lashing out with a single punch, Sasuke moved his head, and pulled his sword, striking the shinobi in the ribs with his sword's pommel. He stepped back and drew it, using a battou jutsu, Yoroi jumped back, only to have Sasuke on him yet again with an unreadable strike from below, only to suddenly realize that Sasuke had made a shadow clone that came at him from behind and held it's knife to his throat.

"The winner is Uchiha Sasuke, who would win due to slit throat if he felt the need to kill his enemy." Hayate announced. "The next pair is…"

-Shino Aburame vs. Zaku Abumi-

The battle was ended when Shino blew Zaku's arms off by filling them with his Kikaichu bugs. Kankurou beat Tsurugi Misumi by choking him out with the help of his puppets.

-Haruno Sakura vs. Yamanaka Ino-

Sakura grinned, she could finally prove to her friend that she could beat her. They had always had an ongoing rivalry, and when they were active shinobi, they would compete fiercely.

"So forehead, I hope you're ready to get your ass handed to you." Ino said confidently, Naruto began laughing uncontrollably at this. Her two teammates looked at him, Shikamaru, one of them, spoke up.

"What's so funny Uzumaki?"

"She really thinks she can beat Sakura, I've taught her some of my best close quarters fighting with both bare hands and blades, Kakashi as well, but he's also been teaching her a library of jutsu, Ino's going to get obliterated."

"I don't think so, Ino's got her tricks."

"You play chess don't you?"

"Yes."

"Think of it as putting only a pawn against a full set of other pieces. Though Sakura will likely only use taijutsu."

"I see, she's improved that much?"

"I've seen to it."

"Then I hope that Ino isn't slaughtered." Shikamaru just watched.

Ino charged, a kunai at the ready, right as she went to thrust, Sakura dodged, caught her wrist, and butted Ino in the chin with her tanto. She then proceeded to slam her knee into the other girl's solar plexus. She stepped back and planted a firm round house kick into the girl's stomach, knocking her back. Ino, stood up, surprised at the pink haired girl's power, each of those blows was more powerful than she could ever imagine taking from anyone.

"What exactly have you been doing with Naruto?"

"If I used Naruto's skills, you'd be a flattened corpse on the stadium floor, this is what Kakashi sensei has taught me, real taijutsu and body conditioning." Sakura dashed forward so quickly that Ino barely registered the movement. She had her blade sheathed, she wanted to settle this with pure hand to hand combat (though a better word would be beating). Ino tried to block the suspected move of a straight punch, but instead she felt the side of Sakura's hand slam into her face, then a swift palm strike to the temple incapacitated the blond.

"Winner by knock out is Haruno Sakura!" Hayate announced, Naruto and Sasuke clapped for their teammate, Naruto went to greet her, but she had other plans, she engulfed him in a leaping hug, causing her taller teammate to stagger slightly.

"You destroyed her Sakura, I'm proud of you!" Naruto almost shouted in a rare display of emotion. Kakashi and Sasuke walked up, Naruto released her, and turned.

"You did well Sakura. Who am I kidding, you butchered her." Kakashi "eye smiled" as they had grown to call the slight crinkling of his visible skin that symbolized a smile from the jounin.

"That was cool" Shikamaru walked over, "Naruto predicted it well, like a pawn against a full army of pieces, and without jutsu."

"SAKURA-SAN YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH ARE BRIGHT!!" Lee shouted in his usual way. Naruto just glared at him, hoping to show his disapproval of unnecessary noise.

Sakura, for one was incredibly proud of herself, she just proved without a shadow of a doubt that she could brutally beat her friend in sheer taijutsu, and without so much as leaving a few bruises, no broken bones or ruptured blood vessels as Sakura hadn't used that much force in her attacks. The simplicity of most of them meant that she could focus on the amount of strength in them. The next two battles were a girl named Tenten getting obliterated by Gaara's sister Temari, then it was Shikamaru ending his battle against Kin Tsuchi by using his Shadow entrapment Jutsu at the right time and slamming her head into the stadium wall, thus rendering her unconscious.

-Uzumaki Naruto vs. Inuzuka Kiba-

Naruto grinned like a madman, he would get to fight finally. He jumped from the balcony, and waited for his victi…opponent. Kiba walked to face his opponent.

"So Inuzuka, would you like to die quickly or should I fight up close and gut you with my blades?"

"Fuck you, you weird…weird guy." Kiba retorted.

"Nice to see that Konoha is training it's ninja in wonderful vocabulary, now it's your choice dog breath." Naruto smiled, Kiba charged him, he wanted to be gutted like a fish. Naruto opened fire with his crossbow, but aimed lower than the head, the chest instead. Kiba dodged the bolt by a shred, and continued to charge like an enraged bull, at the last second Naruto intercepted Kiba by planting his arm blade in Kiba's stomach, Kiba shouted in pain, but only felt more of it as Naruto drew his killing knife from where he placed it along his lower back and began to carve him up with small, mostly non lethal cuts. Eventually Naruto stopped as Kiba passed out due to sheer pain and Naruto pulled his arm blade out, wiped it on his opponent's jacket, as well as the knife. He put both in their respective places.

"I would have chosen just getting blown up like that grass ninja back in the forest, you just had to be over confident, that's going to get you killed by someone one of these days." Naruto walked away as the medic-nin came to get the bleeding Inuzuka. Back on the balcony level, one Yuuhi Kurenai looked at the gennin in shock, and anger.

"You do realize you nearly killed my student don't you?"

"No I didn't, if I wanted to kill him, I would have waited until he were closer and shot him in the face, or perhaps just blown him up, I know more about killing with a blade than you, I was raised to. It's instinct to cut for me." Naruto stated blatantly, he wasn't in the best mood, he'd gotten blood all over his cloak. He shrugged, and removed a few things before he took it off. He then reached into the pouch on his belt and produced a small summoning scroll that contained his other cloak and dawned it.

"Naruto, I hate to say it, but that was a little bit brutal, he was just a gennin, and you quite literally carved him up. Next time you fight one of our gennin, please show at least a little restraint." Kakashi said.

"Alright, I won't use my arm blade, it's hard as hell to get blood out of these cloaks, I'll just use the knife, or maybe my sword." Naruto smirked.

"I guess if that's your brand of restraint then by all means go for it." Kakashi wasn't at all disturbed by the boy's response, he knew that this kid was raised for killing.

The next battle resulted in Hyuuga Hinata being brutally beaten by her cousin, but the insulting words he put with the beating pissed off Naruto. So when Neji walked up, Naruto gave him a few words of wisdom.

"I suggest that if you and I are pitted against each other in the finals, that you come ready to be humiliated like that Inuzuka kid." Naruto said it in a calm and serious tone that sent shivers down the spine of Neji. Gaara quite literally smashed Rock Lee in a display of his demon infused sand control, though he didn't walk away unscathed, Lee showed quite a display of power, pummeling Gaara until Lee couldn't move, and then having the favor returned. Dosu Kinuta, a strange Sound ninja beat Choji Akimichi, using his strange sound resonating gauntlet to disorientate the boy, but since Choji used his meat tank attack, Dosu was smashed and thus knocked out as well. The winners were as follows. Uchiha Sasuke, Aburame Shino, Haruno Sakura, Sabaku No Temari, Sabaku No Kankurou, Uzumaki Naruto, Sabaku No Gaara, Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji.

-Chapter Eight: End-

(1) Last Ditch Combat Skills: The real name of this is Absolute Battlefield Combatives. Developed in WWII by a British commando, taught to British and American commandos and still taught among Special Forces unit today. These are used when Adrenaline is pumping and you can't articulate the thought to use complex movements and all you have left is Gross motor movements, these are absolute "Last Ditch methods" that can actually be used in combat.

(2) Edge Of Hand: This is an attack used in a combat method called Accelerated Battlefield Combatives. Which is simply swinging your arm at the face, throat, or collarbone of your enemy.

_**Author's Note: This chapter was fun to write, now I'm going to have decide who's going to fight who in the finals. I wanted this to have a little more NaruSaku development, though there will not be a full blown relationship for a bit. I intend on making this story very long. I was going to finish this tomorrow, but I did it today.**_


	9. One Month Break

If I owned Naruto and Assassin's Creed, Anko would be doing very dirty things to Al-Tair at this moment.

**Bold is Supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

-Chapter Nine: One month break-

After the preliminaries, the final nine contestants were told that they had one month to prepare for the final match, They were also told that there would be four fights, and one would be a three way match. The fights are as follows.

-Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji-

-Nara Shikamaru vs. Aburame Shino vs. Sabaku No Kankurou-

-Haruno Sakura vs. Sabaku No Temari-

-Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku No Gaara-

Naruto smiled, he would get to teach that Hyuuga scum what it felt like to be battered mercilessly. Sasuke also smirked, he wanted to beat that Gaara kid, he seemed strong. Sakura was likely the only one who was a little on edge, Temari was a long range fighter, she was a close range fighter, but she had no doubt that this could be remedied in a simple way. Gaara was like a homicidal kid in a torture shop, he was (in his own way) giddy beyond all reason. Temari thought she had a cakewalk, Shikamaru simply sighed.

"I have to fight two people, troublesome."

Now, three days after that, Naruto was left on his own. Sakura and Sasuke had both gone to learn Jutsu from Kakashi, but Naruto really didn't care for jutsu that didn't kill his opponent instantly. Add to the fact that he could just focus chakra and say what he wanted to happen in Arabic, he really had no reason to learn them. Naruto decided then, to go to the hot springs, they would help him relax. It was then that he saw the strange white haired man peeping into the girl's hot spring and giggling like an idiot. He pulled his crossbow off his back, and shot right next to the man. As he jumped, Naruto recognized him as Jiraiya, the Sannin.

"Hey, what are you doing peeping old man?" Naruto said, not caring to show him any unnecessary respect as he'd met Jiraiya several times as he was growing up.

"Oh! Naruto! It's been a long time, how are you doing?"

"Bored out of my mind, can you teach me something cool?"

"Well, I could possibly show you a jutsu that's more destructive than anything you can possibly conjure with that Arabic you assassins use so often." Jiraiya held out his hand. Slowly at first, but then steadily speeding up was a blue swirling ball of chakra. He slammed it into a tree, the tree was now leaves and bark chips.

"You have got to show me that!" Naruto could only imagine what that would do to a person.

"Here, use this." Jiraiya handed him a water balloon.

"How?"

"Break the balloon only using your chakra, those assassins taught you how to use your chakra right?"

"Of course, we're not incompetent in the art since we mostly use blades."

"Good, now break the damn balloon, I have research to do." Jiraiya turned and looked though the peep hole. Naruto sat and spun the chakra in the balloon, it did no good.

_think outside the box Naruto_ he thought. He then began to focus it from one point in the middle of the balloon and pushed it from there out, the rubber flexed, and eventually gave way, leaving him soaked.

"Hey old man, I finished, now what?" Naruto interrupted Jiraiya yet again. Jiraiya turned, and looked at the kid. He then pulled out a small rubber ball. "I've got to break this one too?"

"Yup, and don't just pop it, blast it to pieces." Jiraiya added yet another rule. Naruto tried to bounce the chakra again, but it didn't have the same effect as on the softer balloon, he tried spinning it, but it also did nothing, so he tried something new again, he spun it, to gain the speed, then let the spin go, pushing all the chakra away from the central axis, shredding the ball.

"Hey old man, I need something else to break, these balls and balloons are to easy."

"You did both stages already? It's only been twenty minutes! It took your father three years to create the technique! And here you are picking it apart in less than an hour!" Jiraiya laughed, this was truly the legacy of Minato. "Here, contain all the destructive force you used to break the ball in this water balloon, DO NOT break this one." Naruto looked at Jiraiya questioningly. "What is it?"

"Why are you carrying all this stuff?"

"I expected to see you sometime, and I knew that if you were anything like your dad that you'd want to learn something. Now leave me to my research, this is very important." Jiraiya turned away and began peeping and giggling. Naruto walked to his usual spot and began to practice this, he soon discovered that combining both the spiraling chakra and the destructive chakra was very hard. Eventually Naruto was left with all the balloons so he didn't have to keep interrupting Jiraiya's 'research'.

Naruto continually tried to not break the balloons, but eventually began running dangerously on chakra.

"So you've finally run out huh?" Jiraiya walked over. The assassin looked up at his 'tutor'.

"My father designed this you say?"

"Yeah, he only taught it to me because I'm supposed to teach it to you. Come back here tomorrow at noon, We can continue your practice." Jiraiya left after that. Naruto cleaned up his dozens of broken balloons and also left.

Back at the Namikaze-Uzumaki-Uchiha mansion, Naruto saw his housemate preparing dinner. He added the Uchiha name to it simply because he couldn't really see Sasuke as anything other than family and a teammate now.

"So what's the cyclops teaching you?" Naruto asked, sitting down at the table.

"He's got this technique called Chidori, it's a lightning jutsu."

"I'm learning one of my dad's jutsu from this weird old guy I met today. He's dad's teacher, and I met him a couple times when I was little, but I haven't seen him for about four years now."

"How's that going?"

"If I never see a water balloon again, I'm going to be happy."

"Why is that?"

"Because I'm using them to train, and I must have blown up at least a hundred of them." Naruto accepted the plate with a thanks. They ate salmon for dinner that night. Seafood was common in an Uchiha's cookbook.

"I've been blowing holes in rocks all day, I can only use the Chidori three times a day, it's hell in a hand basket, and somehow Sakura's got the strangest affinity combination ever."

"What is that?"

"Fire and Earth, I cracked a joke saying how she could throw flaming rocks at people, she decided she's going to try and make such a jutsu, after she gets some better earth jutsu under her belt."

"That's gonna be a way to beat that Temari girl."

"I saw her today, apparently her and that crazy exam proctor Anko have the same favorite food. I saw them eating dango today." Sasuke took a bite of his salmon. He had to say that this was the best prepared salmon he'd ever made, Naruto chose that particular moment to boost his ego a little more by also complimenting his culinary skills. The dinner was done, both went to their sides of the house, showered and then slept.

The next week was Naruto working to perfect his jutsu. He finally managed to contain the power on the last day of that week. Sakura was working on her jutsu, she still couldn't even think of a name, but had the basic physics of the jutsu down, she would have to create the chakra that formed the rocks, and as she sent them flying, supercharge them with fire element chakra, thus blowing the first boulders into thousands of smaller flaming rocks that hurdled through the air at high speed.

Sasuke stood in front of a massive boulder atop an even larger boulder, there was massive holes in the boulder, incinerated by the numerous Chidori that were used on the rock. Eventually, he learned to channel it through his body, and even his sword.

Naruto was angry. One might ask why he was angry. The answer was quite simple actually. In the past four and a half weeks he'd had almost no human contact except for Jiraiya and Sasuke. He hadn't seen Sakura, Kakashi, that weird Nara kid, not a soul, not even a store clerk as Sasuke did all the grocery shopping, Naruto was not the best cook, so Sasuke got the food.

Naruto currently stood on a building, he was planning. He thought it might be fun if he could get Sakura to sneak out with him and go have some fun. He just had to remember where she lived and when he remembered, he had to sneak in, wake her up, avoid getting himself killed, and avoid waking her mother. Sasuke was beginning to bore him, and he couldn't sleep. Despite all the calm and cool that usually made up Naruto's personality, when he was bored out of his mind, he would be very different. One time an artist that lived in Masyaf decided to draw what he thought Naruto would be like if he was a loud prankster all the time. The picture was very strange, it showed Naruto, with a bright orange jumpsuit, goggles over his forehead, holding back his spiky blond hair, and a giant grin on his face.

Naruto suddenly remembered where Sakura's house was, so he went there and sat atop the roof of the building across from it. He just had to remember which was her room.

_-Flashback-_

_Naruto had some how been shanghaied into a trip with Sakura to the movies. Never would he quite remember how this happened, but it was okay, it was just a movie, what harm would it do? They were almost to the theater when Sakura stopped._

_"I forgot something at my house! We have to go back Naruto!" Sakura grabbed his hand and dragged him back to her home. They walked in the door, up the stairs…(Naruto struggled to remember this part)… Down the Hall, past the first door, and then to the second door._

_-Flashback End-_

Naruto now remembered the window he was supposed to be sneaking in through. The movie was a kung fu movie, he'd half expected it to be something more along the lines of a drama or something, but Sakura was a rather strange girl and insisted they see a movie called "The Forbidden Kingdom". He stopped his mental stalling and looked for the right window, he then dropped to street level and then ran up the building silently, adhered to the wall. He slowly opened the window, and snuck in. He almost laughed at how easy it was, that is until he felt a blade against his neck.

"Who are you and what are you doing here." Sakura whispered. Naruto held up his left hand, allowing the moonlight to glint off his arm blade.

"It's me Sakura, Naruto." He replied in an equally hushed voice. She then realized she was only wearing her night clothes, which were a pair of small shorts and a tank top, she made a noise that can only be labeled as a 'squeal' and grabbed her blanket and quickly wrapped herself in it.

"Naruto! What are you doing here?!" She still whispered, but it was a slightly aggravated whisper.

"I couldn't sleep, you've gotta come with me, I know this really cool place, we need to go there."

"But I don't have any of my normal clothes on and I'm not getting dressed with you here. Plus my shoes are downstairs."

"You're a shinobi, right? Just sneak, your parents are civilians, they won't hear you. If you want clothing, here." He unbuckled his sword, and took off his cloak, handing it to Sakura.

"You're insane Naruto" Sakura accepted the cloak, when she put it on, she realized how much bigger than her he was. Though only less than half a year from thirteen, Naruto was quite well defined. He was only about five foot, but that was tall for a pre-teen. He kept his hair close cropped, and his face showed a fierce determination. He buckled his sword and knives (which are attached to his sword belt) back around his waist, and then set his booted foot on her windowsill.

"Meet me downstairs, and don't just lock me out and steal my cloak, I know where you sleep." Naruto grinned. Dropping onto the street silently, he waited patiently for Sakura to create a clone of herself, and get her shoes, she came out, swimming in Naruto's garment, he suppressed a laugh when he saw it. He never realized his size difference to the smaller girl.

"Don't even think about laughing, It's not funny. This thing is heavy! What's it made of? Canvas?"

"No, it's a secret, the brotherhood has a lot of them. Let's go, it's almost the right time, you'll know what I mean when we get there."

They ran atop the buildings until they got to where they would make no progress by staying on the buildings. They took to a well traveled trail uphill. Naruto saw the sun barely breaking the horizon as the sky began to turn from black to a dark blue.

"C'mon! We have to hurry!" Naruto picked up the pace, they continued running, until Naruto stopped, then Sakura realized where they were. They were on top of the Hokage monument, standing on Naruto's father's head. The sun was just now rising. Sakura could only think of one thing.

"Beautiful." was the one word that came from her mouth.

"I know, I come here when I can't sleep, sometimes I sleep up here. On my father's head I can see everything. But I know that I'm going to surpass him, I've got to."

"Why?"

"Because, I've got to be the best Hokage that there is." Naruto continued to watch the sunset, Sakura moved closer to Naruto, he put his arm around her shoulders, she rested her head against his black clad shoulder. They sat like that for quite a while, Sakura slept on his shoulder.

_Kyuubi. _Naruto addressed his tenant.

**What is it boy?** Kyuubi growled at his walking prison.

_Are you ready to fight that Shukaku thing? It's inevitable that we fight it. So we're going to have to work together._

**Aye, I have a personal vendetta against that Tanuki. We'll obliterate him. When you sleep, I'm going to implant the fox summoning jutsu into your mind. You will then be able to summon foxes to help you in battle.** The Kyuubi had established contact with Naruto several years ago and told him that he would help him in times of need. Just the other day he'd told Naruto that him that if he were to start sensing demonic chakra from Gaara, that he would have to fight him and either kill him or render him immobile in some way. Naruto laid down, careful not to wake Sakura, he then went to sleep.

Sakura woke up first, realizing immediately that her blanket was not as heavy as what was covering her, she then remembered the night before, she wasn't in her bed, but laying on Naruto's chest. She sat up, waking Naruto.

"we need to get back to town, I need to get dressed and meet Kakashi Sensei." Naruto woke up, for just a split second, Sakura thought she saw red in Naruto's eyes.

"Alright, I'll come with you, though won't your mom notice your shoes are gone?"

"No, I left something in a Henge so it looks like my shoes, and a clone in my bed, I just need to sneak into my room, get dressed and go downstairs. You can come up to get your cloak, but you'll have to leave after that."

"Alright, I have to go meet the old man anyway. I've only got one more day to train before I use the last day off to rest." Naruto went and retrieved his cloak and then left.

-Chapter Nine: End-

_**Author's Note: I made this one kinda NaruSaku centric because a lot of people have been asking me when there will be more of it. The finals will start next chapter. Naruto and Neji fight, Sakura reveals her new jutsu, Sasuke shows off Chidori, Shikamaru shows his ability to get his lazy ass out of 'troublesome situations'.**_


	10. The Finals: Part One

I wish I owned Assassin's Creed and Naruto, If I did, Al-Tair would be blasting his enemies to pieces with fire jutsu in the streets of Jerusalem.

**Bold is supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

_**AU: This is gonna be a very long chapter as I'm narrating every fight, not just the important ones, hopefully you enjoy it.**_

-Chapter Ten: The Finals: Part One-

Naruto woke up on the morning of the finals energized. He'd slept well, though he did miss Sasuke's culinary skills. The last week or so had been without it for Kakashi had taken him off to hone his skills even more.

Naruto dressed a little differently today, he wore black cargo pants instead of his brown ones, and instead of the usual black t-shirt, he wore a shirt of plated leather armor, he knew of the invasion, and had alerted the Hokage, he had ANBU planted everywhere throughout the village, ready to strike at a moments notice. Naruto dawned a his cloak, then his gauntlets. He wore greaves, and wore his Konoha Hitai-ate over his forehead bandana style much like Ibiki did instead of around his neck. He buckled his sword in place, and doubled his number of bolts and throwing knives, he wanted all the projectiles he could spare, he made sure his blades were honed to their razor sharpness as usual, he also packed a medic kit in his belt kit. He set out, finding Sakura waiting by the front gates, she was dressed no differently, but she had a ninja-to slung across her back, according to her, it was important that she brought it.

"Good Morning Sakura, you've come to guard me on my trip to the stadium?" Naruto joked.

"Of course, we can't have Uzumaki Naruto getting attacked on his way to his fight." She replied mockingly.

"Then let's hope no shinobi attack me on the way." Naruto's face straightened out. "But be careful, I plan on fighting Gaara, and if things get out of hand, I may have to release a surprise, and if I do, then you need to stay out of the way, and help the ANBU fight of the sand and sound, be careful." Naruto said solemnly.

"That's what this is for Naruto." She pointed her thumb at the ninja-to.

"Still. Remember what I taught you, remember what Kakashi taught you, and stay as safe as a person fighting for their life can." Naruto reached an arm around her and embraced her in a hug. Sakura blushed, she'd always been the one to initiate any sort of physical contact other than simple gestures as touching shoulders and training exercises. He held her for a moment, then remembered he had to be there when it began because he was first to fight.

Naruto and Sakura arrived right before it all started, The exam proctor, who's name was Genma, stood chewing on the end of a senbon needle. He introduced the fighters, and the order of the fights, which was to be like this.

-Uzumaki Naruto vs. Hyuuga Neji-

-Nara Shikamaru vs. Aburame Shino (who was currently missing) vs. Sabaku No Kankurou)-

-Haruno Sakura vs. Sabaku No Temari-

-Uchiha Sasuke vs. Sabaku No Gaara-

Cheers erupted from the crowd, The remaining six people walked up to the stadium, leaving Naruto, Neji and Genma in the stadium.

"You guys can start at any time, lethal force is permitted, but only if your opponent is unwilling to go down any other way." Genma stepped back about ten paces. Naruto smirked, he'd finally put this arrogant Hyuuga in his place, among the other shinobi, each who was proud as the next, but none elevated to an arrogant level. He drew his sword, holding it in a relaxed, neutral stance, sword in his right hand, knees slightly bent, front foot pointing forward, left hand floating at about waist level.

"Byakugan!" The Hyuuga activated their signature bloodline, Naruto knew he could end it with just a few words, blasting the ninja to pieces, but his mind was set on teaching him a lesson, not killing him. The Hyuuga got tired of the waiting and dashed forward, Naruto stepped to the side to avoid the dart like fingers of the Hyuuga Jyuuken style. He stepped in, and punched the Hyuuga in the stomach, causing him to double over.

"The first strike goes to me Neji." Naruto stepped back, falling into the same stance as before. Neji growled angrily before standing, and attempting to attack Naruto's arms, he simply took the blows with his metal plated gauntlets. "These are designed to block even chakra scalpels, the metal is made specially to deflect chakra enforced blows. You've got no chance in disabling my arms." Naruto lashed out with a low roundhouse kick that took Neji's legs out from under him, planting him right on the ground again. Naruto backed up, allowing him to stand again, this time he went for Naruto's legs, which Naruto simply used his swordsman's footwork to dodge. He used a palm strike to Neji's metal covered forehead, sending him stumbling.

"Stop playing around!" Neji then began to move faster, he lashed out with strike after strike. "You know, you're within my range of divination" Neji smirked, "Hakke: Rokujuuyon shou" He lashed out, "Two strikes" These hit home, then the next barrage of four, eight, sixteen, thirty two, then sixty four. Naruto fell to one knee. "Who's got no chance now?"

"You. I can do something that most can't" Naruto began to focus, then he muttered a few words, and then Neji saw the sixty four tenketsu points burst open. Naruto stood, and lashed out with his sword, slashing his chest open with one fluid motion, sending gouts of blood spraying from his chest.

"Im…Impossible." Neji staggered back.

"No, actually, it's not, you see, if I wanted to kill you, I could simply say 'blow up that man there' while focusing my chakra on you and saying these words in Arabic. Our magic is different than your jutsu. But it's incredibly exhausting, as it requires just as much energy as if I were to plant explosive tags on your body and set each off with my chakra." Naruto sheathed his sword. "The reason I didn't, is because I wanted to teach you the lesson of humility, one that is ground into my bones, in my case by force of beating. The assassins are incredibly torturous in their methods. I'm only without scar, save for this one because of my curse."

"You know nothing of curses." Neji spat.

"You think that caged bird seal is a curse? How about Gaara? He has a psychotic demon sealed in him, he hasn't had a wink of sleep in ages. What of Rock Lee who can't use Ninjutsu or Genjutsu? He is cursed, but he turns it into his greatest gift. You have great power, your curse is no limiting factor. Now FIGHT!" Naruto lashed out with a palm strike, knocking Neji's head back. He then used a combination of punches, kicks, elbows, knife hands and even knees to drive back the Hyuuga, He then used a powerful palm strike to slam Neji into the wall. He coughed blood, the force of the blow was too much. Neji Fell to his knees, only to feel himself be thrown over five meters, landing in a heap, Naruto waited for him to stand before rushing him again.

"You see, a bloodline and chakra control are nothing, I am beating you senseless without it." Naruto jabbed his finger into Neji's cheek. "I could have removed your eye just now. Neji, this whole time was trying in vain to block his strikes, but could do nothing. Finally, Naruto slowed down. "You can clearly not keep up, and I don't want the village thinking I'm some brutal bastard who beats on people slower than I am." Naruto once again drew his sword, and blocked the edge. "Now come at me." Neji, as if baited attacked, full speed, trying his best to attack the assassin, but to no avail, Naruto finally just struck his neck with the pommel, rendering him unconscious. "I hope you learned Neji." He unblocked the edge and sheathed it.

"Winner! Uzumaki Naruto!" The crowd erupted in cheers and loud clapping. Naruto walked off to the stairs.

Shikamaru smirked, someone had put that pompous Neji in his place, and by not even using any projectile or anything other than his fists and sword. He shrugged, he really didn't want to fight that Puppet master.

"Well, I suppose it's my turn to go fight." Shikamaru walked toward the stairs, seeing Naruto walking back up, just how strong was this kid? He continued walking down the stairs. He made his way out on to the stadium's dirt floor.

"Nara Shikamaru, Sabaku no Gaara, since Aburame Shino is absent from this tournament, you two will fight one on one." Genma announced. "you may begin at any time. No lethal force unless your opponent will not stay down otherwise." Genma stepped back, like he did before.

Shikamaru stayed still, allowing his opponent to get what he thought was an ample reading of the Nara. He smiled, He drew several kunai, throwing them, but not at his opponent, but at what seemed to be random points, he then dropped one, and vanished, landing behind Kankurou, who dropped his bundle, Shikamaru remembered this bundle, and had accounted for it. He then began making hand seals.

"Shadow Imitation jutsu." And as soon as Kankurou jumped to escape the circle of kunai, Shikamaru's shadow leapt from the shadow each kunai cast and caught Kankurou by his own shadow, thanks to the bundle on his back, it was double the size of a normal one, so he could catch it from a bit farther. He smiled, and reached his hand to his neck, causing the puppet user to do so as well. Kankurou's neck was much thicker than Shikamaru's so he could squeeze much harder without hurting himself or choking himself to death.

"Surrender or I'll choke you into submission, or here's a better idea…" Shikamaru pulled out a kunai, Kankurou mirroring his actions, his was right against his throat, where Shikamaru's was about a centimeter away from his.

" You wouldn't."

"I'm a shinobi, of course I would, this is an end to a troublesome fight." Shikamaru was about to pull, when his opponent announced that he gave up.

"Winner! Nara Shikamaru!" Genma shouted, as the crowd erupted into cheers. Shikamaru picked up his kunai, and put them in his pouch, walking to the stands. He arrived see Sakura walk down to the field. He sat next to Naruto.

"So what can we expect from our pink haired friend?" Shikamaru asked.

"To be honest, I can't tell you, I don't even know, I haven't been training with her much, I taught her some swordplay a couple days ago, but she hasn't shown me any jutsu. So I'll be as surprised as you." Naruto replied.

"I have to hand it to you, you battered Neji pretty bad. Why?"

"He needed to be taught some humility, Al-Tair, and our clan taught us by fist, it's the most effective way to be taught that lesson, to be beaten at your game."

"Makes sense."

"It does, now let's watch Sakura fight."

"You like her don't you? I can hear it in your speech." Shikamaru asked, Naruto stayed silent, not wishing to admit it, but he knew that he really did have feelings for Haruno Sakura.

Her fight began with a simple jump back. Temari drew her fan, and swung, Sakura did something strange, she dropped to the ground, laying flat, the air blast passed harmlessly over her. She stood, and began the seals, firing off a technique that was basically a concentrated earthquake. Temari jumped, Sakura moved in, drawing her sword, she slashed at the Kunoichi. Temari blocked with her fan, but Sakura grabbed it, pulling herself forward, she elbowed Temari in the face, and then jumped off the fan. Temari's nose flowed blood like a stream.

"You Bitch!" Temari swung her fan again, but this time Sakura did seals quickly, and called up her earth affinity with the jutsu

"Earth Style: Earth Shield" The wind died harmlessly against it, she then fired off another one. "Earth Style: Earth bullet!" She slammed her hands into the barrier, and the whole thing exploded into dozens of flying projectiles, Sakura moved in quickly, as Temari blocked the bullets with her fan, she didn't expect the kick to the head however. The heavy blow sent her flying back. Sakura landed, and moved in again, jumping high into the air, and performing a fire jutsu. "Fire Style: Grand Fireball!" She launched the small sun at the other Kunoichi.

In the stands Ino saw as Sakura attacked with power that was foreign to Ino's previous recollection of her friend.

"What did you teach her Naruto?" She asked the boy who was sitting just a row down.

"A man on the battlefield is commonplace, but a woman on the field is a true demon.(1) She's only tapped into her chakra reserves, she's grown a lot in the months I've been here." Naruto smiled. "She's mostly using Kakashi's teachings, though I did advise her to stay in close and then jump back to demonstrate her skills."

Back on the stadium floor, Temari had finally landed a good hit on Sakura, she set up her Kamaitachi, only to have Sakura block it with her shield of earth again, She was too good to be a normal Gennin. But this couldn't last forever. Temari decided to move in for the offensive role, swinging her massive fan, she felt it blocked by the ninja-to that her opponent wielded. She then lashed out with a low kick, trying to take out her legs, Sakura stepped back, dodging the kick, she then pushed the fan off of her, and drew her tanto, she attacked with her longer weapon, and then closed the distance, trying to attack with her second one. Temari was in trouble, she was a long range fighter, but this girl was showing time and again that this was going to be a close range fight.

"Earth and Fire Style: Flaming Sakura storm!" Sakura yelled, Temari wondered what the technique was until she felt the flaming, red hot stone petals slice at her body, cauterizing as they cut. Sakura moved in for the killing blow, but then Temari surrendered, showing that she knew it was a losing battle.

"Winner! Haruno Sakura!" The crowd erupted in cheers, Naruto stood up to meet his friend, he could sense that she'd used a great deal of her chakra, so Naruto offered her a soldier pill. She took it gladly, feeling her energy return to her.

"You did that really well, and followed mine and Kakashi's advice to keep the fight at close quarters. I'm proud of you." Naruto hugged her again, making her blush, then he sat down next to Shikamaru, Sakura taking a seat next to him.

The next and final fight was Sasuke vs. Gaara, one that was what people were waiting for.

-Chapter Ten: End-

_**Author's Notes: For those who will think that I made Temari seem weak, keep in mind that she is a Long range fighter, Sakura is a close quarters fighter. Sakura was able to keep it that way, so she won, that is why it may seem Temari is weak, though I assure you she'll seem a great deal different later on. Thanks for reading.**_


	11. The FInals: Part Two

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed

**Bold is Supernatural Speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

-Chapter Eleven: The Finals part two-

This was the battle that people were waiting for, The Prodigy of the dead Uchiha clan, against the son of the Hokage of the Sand Village. Gaara had already made his way down to the field, waiting for Sasuke to show up.

"Sir, Uchiha's not in the stadium, what should we do?" One of the ANBU asked the Hokage.

"We'll wait, he'll show up soon." The Hokage replied, expecting that he was with his teacher Kakashi. Five minutes passed, Genma had announced that Sasuke had twenty minutes before he would be disqualified. The crowd began chanting "Uchiha! Uchiha!" Over and over again, impatient for the fight to start. Genma watched his pocket watch, announcing the amount of time at five minute intervals. At one minute, dark lightning clouds appeared above the stadium, darkening it, then suddenly, a massive lightning bolt crashed down, and from the smoke of the scorched ground arose Hatake Kakashi, wearing his standard Jounin gear, Sasuke was wearing black pants, knee high boots that buckled up, a black gi with the Uchiha insignia on the back, sleeves tucked under his metal kote, he had his katana strapped across his back, his shuriken pouch on his thigh, his belt kit on the left side of his lower back, black plated leather armor was visible under his gi, he also had greaves covering his shins.

"Are we late?" Kakashi asked. Genma smirked

"Kakashi… this is you we're talking about, of course you're late, but everyone wanted this fight we waited."

"Sorry, but Sasuke burned up his shirt, so we had to go pick him up a new one." Kakashi then walked over to the stairs, and walked up.

"Alright then! Everyone! The Uchiha has arrived! Prepare for the fight!" Genma explained the 'rules' of the fight.

Gaara's sand lashed out, Sasuke dodged to the side, moving in as he drew his sword, attempting to slash at the sand user. Each and every attack was thwarted by the sand, Sasuke then retreated to what seemed to be the edge of the sand's range. He smirked, made seals, and suddenly four Shadow clones appeared, they moved to surround Gaara in a half circle formation. They all made the same signs at the same time.

"Fire Style: Grand Fireball no Jutsu!" They all fired the flames at the sand user. The sand dome shot up all around him, the outer layer melting into glass. Sasuke then rushed the dome, and jammed his blade through it, shattering the glass, but something happened that Sasuke didn't predict. Gaara used his sand armor to protect himself, But Sasuke then moved in with his tanto, and attempted to jam it through the armor, cracking it, but not penetrating it. Sasuke jumped into the air as a spike of sand shot up, nearly impaling him. He landed a ways away, and smiled.

"Time to test out my new skill." He turned, and began running towards the wall of the stadium, then up it, to the very edge. He made the seals for Chidori, and then more, while holding his sword.

"Gatotsu Chidori." He held the handle of his sword at the pommel in his left hand, lightning coursing through the steel of the blade. He rushed down the wall, the blade poised horizontally on his left side, pointing in front of him, and his right hand guiding it, but not touching the blade. He stopped one step before where the dome appeared last, and pivoted, launching the blade forward with incredible speed and power, slamming it into the upper right part of Gaara's chest right where the pectoral muscle is thickest. The lightning coursed through Gaara's body, causing him to scream in agony, Underneath the dome of sand, Sasuke felt something stir, and when he pulled the blade out, an arm smashed him in the face, but it wasn't a human arm, it had claws, and blue vein like lines on it.

Feathers fell around the stadium, and all who didn't immediately release it fell victim to this sleep inducing jutsu. Sasuke had not fallen victim, nor had many of the jounin, ANBU, or his team.

Naruto stood, drawing his sword as many sound shinobi surrounded him and Sakura. Naruto lashed out with his sword, cleaving the head off one of his attackers, he stood, and as he felt another behind him, he turned, blocked the kunai, punched the enemy, and then slashed down, he then turned, cutting another down.

Sakura ducked a kunai, and sank her tanto into her target with her left hand. She turned and attacked an enemy with her ninja-to in her right, slashing open their chest. She turned and planted her heel into the enemy's knee, collapsing it, she then used the pommel of her sword to crush his wind pipe. Kakashi saved her from the enemy she went to defend from, but was slightly too slow. He began taking out more of the assault force with his bare hands, crushing bones and armor alike with his blows.

Back on the stadium floor, Sasuke and Gaara stared at each other, and then suddenly took off, jumping the wall of the stadium in one jump. Sasuke in hot pursuit.

Kakashi saw Sasuke run after him, and called Naruto and Sakura over.

"You two, take Shikamaru with you, Kiba too, follow Sasuke, this will be treated as an S-Class Mission, failing is not an option."

"Yes Sir!" Naruto replied, waking Shikamaru and Kiba, telling them the details and they ran off after the enemy Jinchuuriki and their friend.

Kiba took point, Naruto ran at the second in the line, Shikamaru and Sakura took up the rear. Kiba stopped, he could pick up the scent of Sasuke now, they changed direction, and continued going that way.

Sasuke ran and ran, but Gaara and his weird sand arms were just too damned fast. _What would Naruto do?_ Sasuke asked himself, he then pulled out a kunai and an explosive tag, launching it in an arc, hundreds rained down in front of and around his target which was about twenty yards away, he'd used the shadow shuriken no jutsu. The incendiary knives detonated all simultaneously, causing Gaara to stop and activate his Sand shield. Sasuke then moved in, and tried to carve his enemy apart, each move thwarted by the shield. He then moved back, and thought, he was positive that Naruto would be sent after him, and Naruto always knew what to do. Gaara lashed out with his sand, he caught Sasuke's katana, and the blade was engulfed and crushed by the sand.

"Now Uchiha… You don't have your blade, and I will take great pleasure in ripping you apart. You see… Mother wishes to taste your **BLOOD!"** Gaara launched himself forward just as Sasuke brought his tanto to bear, he thrust it deep into Gaara's stomach, he twisted, and jerked it up, Gaara screamed, vomiting blood, he jumped away from the Uchiha, and Ichibi healed his deformed stomach and organs.

"What the hell are you?! I hit you with my Gatotsu Chidori, my tanto, explosive tags, everything and yet you keep on healing!" Sasuke yelled.

"I am a weapon, the ultimate weapon, one that can never die and only seeks to kill. I am Gaara of the sand, the Jinchuuriki of the Shukaku."

"Naruto is a Jinchuuriki, but he isn't like you, he was raised by assassins, trained to be a weapon, but he still shows his emotions."

"Emotions will make me weaker, I need to show nothing."

"They will help you, I used to think like that, but Naruto came and beat sense into me, He should be showing up soon and until then I'm going to fight you with my all." Sasuke rushed through the hand seals, reared back and used "Fire Style: Fire Dragon No Jutsu" The dragon blazed it's way toward Gaara, who jumped away when he saw the flame. He flung a sand bullet at Sasuke who also dodged, He threw many shuriken, all of which were blocked by the sand nin and his sand. Sasuke dashed in with amazing speed and began a barrage of taijutsu, his moves literally a blur as he smashed the dense chakra sand. One blow finally got through, and Sasuke then ran in and began pounding on his enemy with the ferocity of a lion who fights for his life. Sasuke slashed with his tanto, used the projectile weapons he had, fired jutsu and generally used all he had.

Naruto and his group had been stopped when eight sound ninja surrounded them.

"Naruto go! You're the only one who stands a chance against Gaara!" Sakura yelled, using her ninja-to in order to fend off enemies.

"What about you guys? I can't leave you behind!" Naruto slashed open an enemy's torso. The number had been reduced to five.

"Just go! We'll be fine!" Naruto turned, made several seals.

"Oni Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" Naruto summoned a fox that was about horse sized.

"Hello, My name is Saitou, what can I do for you Naruto sama?" Saitou the fox asked.

"I need you to take me to find Uchiha Sasuke."

"How can I? I don't know his scent."

"Look for the Shukaku's scent." Naruto jumped atop the fox. The fox took off at an insane speed, several times faster than even the fastest horse.

Naruto soon reached the scene of Sasuke pinned against a tree by Gaara's partially transformed state. Naruto jumped from his fox back perch and did something Sasuke had never seen… He threw his sword.

The sword struck home, sliding between Gaara's ribs, Naruto let his momentum carry him the whole way to the tree Sasuke was pinned against.

"Gaara, you shouldn't have let your demon take over. Now I'll have to kill you." Naruto walked up and twisted the sword, then pulled it out. Gaara screamed in agony as the cold steel relocated many of his ribs and tore holes in his lungs. Naruto kicked his enemy away, and dashed at him, swinging his sword, Gaara's demon arm caught it, and slammed him back. Naruto felt his wind leave him, he was sure he even felt a rib crack. Naruto stood up, Gaara laughed maniacally, He went to attack, but Naruto muttered something in Arabic, he'd used a paralysis jutsu. He moved forward, he made shadow clones, dozens of them, they surrounded Gaara's ever transforming state.

"Gaara, I wished that we could share some form of bond, but if you go trying to kill my friend." He raised his sword. "I WILL KILL YOU!" He brought the blade down, all of the clones as well, cutting deep into Gaara's now sandstone like skin. Gaara screamed, but then began laughing. Naruto pulled back his blade.

"You've released him! He's finally coming out!" Gaara's body began vanishing beneath sand, which formed the Shukaku, full stature. Naruto stared.

"How am I supposed to fight that thing?"

**"Summon me kit. I'll take him down." **The Kyuubi spoke from inside the boy.

"Promise me you won't do anything but that." Naruto spoke this aloud.

**"I swear, no harm will come to anything other than Shukaku or anything that gets in my way of defeating him."** Kyuubi swore, Naruto seemed satisfied and made the seals, because he didn't quite know the words that would summon the Kyuubi.

Naruto looked at his friend, and said,

"Sasuke, say hello to the Kyuubi no Yoko." And he finished the jutsu with "Oni Kuchiyose no Jutsu!" no smoke arose, instead, a huge patch of the forest burst into flames, but at the same time, no harm was done to anything. Naruto suddenly stood atop a massive crimson fox.

**"Ahh, fresh air. Now kit, here's how it's done, hold on." **Kyuubi lashed out with a single tail, striking the Shukaku. The sand raccoon jumped away in a way that Naruto didn't believe possible. Kyuubi lunged from his powerful legs, and bit into the Shukaku's thick skin. It howled in agony, the Kyuubi's meter long fangs sinking deep into it.

**"Kit, wake up the child! It will be over after that."** The Kyuubi meant that he had to cross onto the demon's body and wake Gaara by force. Naruto did so without hesitation, he ran down Kyuubi's head, the Shukaku wailing and beating the Kyuubi, getting no results. Naruto walked over to where Gaara slumped from the Ichibi's sandstone skin. He drew his sword, he then dulled the edge, and brought it down across the son of another fourth elemental lord. Gaara screamed, the painful metal crushing bones. The sand began to melt away, Naruto grabbed Gaara, pulling as hard as he could, he brought him out of the quickly melting demon, and jumped across to his prisoner's head.

"We did it Kyuubi. We beat the Shukaku." Naruto was exhausted, he'd fought a supposed prodigy, ran nearly ten kilometers, fought a demon, summoned a bigger demon, and then pulled a demon carrier out of a demon. What a day.

**"I'll let you two down, I can feel your exhaustion, your female is coming kit." **Kyuubi lowered his head, and allowed the two to get off. Naruto laid the semi paralyzed Gaara down, and then passed out himself.

Sakura, Temari, Gaara's sister rushed to where they had only moments ago seen the nine tailed fox demon biting down on the one tailed raccoon demon. They arrived to see Sasuke leaning on his now sheathed sword, Naruto was unconscious, and Gaara was, sleeping. Temari rushed over and picked up her brother, who had visible cuts, and bruises, marks from broken bones. Sakura ran over to Naruto, removed his sword belt, his crossbow, and his cloak, she opened up the first aid kit he'd brought along, she then removed his armor, and began treating his bleeding wounds with the first aid that she knew. His three broken ribs would have to wait until they got back to the hospital.

"that kid beat Gaara bad, he's bleeding, and has broken bones, no one has ever laid a hand on Gaara save for the two of you." Temari said to Sasuke.

"He's Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, he can do anything, he has to be able to, he's going to be the next Hokage." Sasuke declared before he fell over, passed out.

-Chapter Eleven: End-

_**Author's Notes: Sorry this took so long, I injured my hand in a climbing accident, and it just healed up last weekend, so it's taken a while. I changed the battle, and of course the Hokage and Orochimaru fight isn't there, the outcome of that is exactly the same. So I won't type it. Well, it's not my best, but I'm damn tired, and I need sleep, but I finished it nonetheless.**_


	12. Mourning and Moving Ahead

I don't Own Naruto or Assassin's Creed

**Bold is supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

-Chapter Twelve: Mourning and moving ahead-

Naruto had been discharged from the hospital after two days, Naruto with three broken ribs, his ulna cracked about five centimeters from the point of his elbow, and fifteen stitches in his side from the claw of the Shukaku, out of commission for no less than two weeks. Sasuke was much worse off, two broken ribs, right clavicle broken, forty five stitches total, and a broken nose. He was out of commission for two weeks minimum, seven weeks maximum. Sakura and Kakashi managed only minor injuries, a few small lacerations, and some bruises, but neither had such a hard battle to fight. Sasuke was still confined to the hospital, but he would probably escape soon.

Naruto stood up, straining because of the brace they placed around his torso to prevent him from expanding his rib cage too far and breaking the soft tissue that was still forming into what would be his healed bone. He hated breaking bones, healing always took so long. The Medical jutsu that ninja used made it go by much faster, so he would wait much shorter periods of time to get back to his duties. Since he was not going to be doing anything for the next two weeks, except for attending the Hokage's funeral in ten days, he wore didn't bother with all his gear, only his knife and arm blade, the two weapons that required the least amount of movement to use. He decided to go see Sakura and Kakashi, they were training at their team's training ground. Naruto walked to the grounds, he didn't see them which meant they were playing Kakashi's twisted version of hide and seek. He sat and waited, he figured if he did so for long enough they would sense him and show up. About three minutes later, they both showed up, greeting him.

"So how's our new village hero?" Sakura asked. Naruto was slightly confused. "You mean you haven't heard? Everyone's talking about you Naruto! They're saying how you single handedly took on the sand village's demon!"

"That's not entirely true, though I'm sure most people didn't see it, we were a distance out, but Kyuubi helped, and Sasuke." Naruto said.

"It'd be best not to let the council know about that Naruto, they're a bit sore on that topic, the whole summoning of the nine tails." Kakashi was referring to when nearly one thousand of their best soldiers were killed by the demon.

"I see, though I imagine that more than a few people would have seen him, I think that it's best to just go and tell them."

"They're going to go ballistic when they hear you're summoning him."

"Summons are not permanent, they can be called off, had he done any harm, I would have done so."

"Good point. Still, make sure that they know that, or you may end up imprisoned, they're not exactly the most honest people, and will twist the facts on you."

"Then I will do that, who is going to be the next Hokage? From what I've been told, the Third died fighting Orochimaru."

"Yes, Yes he did… The council is still deciding, they're speaking with Jiraiya, he is a very intelligent person, but he says he isn't cut out for the job. They also approached me about the job, but I turned them down, I'm also no good for it."

"Then who?"

"Maybe he can convince his old teammate to do it, though I heard she's quite a bitch some of the time." Kakashi shrugged.

"Tsunade… I've never met her, but surely she can't be that bad, Jiraiya's a pervert, and women hate perverts, so I can see why he would call her a bitch."

"I heard that she has huge drinking and gambling problems." Sakura added.

"Let's go visit Sasuke, he's probably bored out of his skull." Naruto suggested, Kakashi shrugged.

"Yeah, I hate the hospital too." Naruto sighed, he really didn't want to return, but this was his best friend and comrade he was visiting.

Team Seven arrived at the Hospital, and found Sasuke's room, Went up and saw he was sitting there, reading a book.

"What's that?"

"It's called the Iliad, A story about an ancient Greek warrior named Achilles. It's a good book, but the descriptions of everything are ridiculously long."

"Where'd you find it?" Naruto asked, curious.

"Shikamaru brought it, he said if I wanted something to kill time, this book was a way to do it, I've already read the prequel, the Aeneid, also about this Achilles fellow." Sasuke replied, tossing the book to Naruto.

"Homer is the author, apparently even though they were a warrior race, the Greeks had an insane amount of free time."

"Or a lot of civilians." Sakura added.

"Or both, I met a sailor once when I was an ANBU, he told me Greece was beautiful, and had a lot of ports." Kakashi retold the story of how he was assigned to assassinate a man who was on the run from some Lord and was spotted boarding a ship, Kakashi found the man hiding on the ship of a Greek sailor, and when he boarded the ship to capture the man, the captain had apprehended him and began ranting in Greek, then some man who could speak the tongue translated for him, and they spoke for a while longer. The team listened intently to Kakashi and his story.

"So Sasuke, if it's any consolation, the doctor said you only have to stay for another thirteen days, and you'll be out." Sakura informed.

"Good. I can't stand this place, reading has kept me barely sane." Sasuke remarked.

"Then we can whip you back into shape and get back to the ass kicking." Naruto smiled. He missed having a house mate.

"And I can get back to an actual bed, not this pathetic excuse for one." Sasuke hated everything about the hospital, even the way voices echoed in here, even the way the walls felt. "I've concluded they make hospitals so damned annoying in order to encourage people to stay the hell out of them." Everyone laughed, Sasuke wasn't really one to crack a joke, not since Naruto showed up, companionship had worked wonders on the two.

"And you can cook up some of that great tasting salmon chef Uchiha." Naruto added

"So are we just here to make Sasuke miss the outside world more?" Kakashi asked.

"You've done well so far." Sasuke really wished he could get outside.

"You could escape. A few more days of pain meds and bad food and your bones should be healed enough to cope with the stress of getting the hell out of here." Naruto suggested. "And I'll get some good Sashimi for your coming home gift."

"Three days ought to be good." Kakashi said "Whenever I was injured, I never stayed more than five days, when they gave me my last meal and medicine of the day, I ate it and left."

"So is it just a general team agreement that we all hate the hospital?" Sakura asked. Everyone nodded. "Okay, thought so."

"Well Sasuke, sorry about this but we need to go." Kakashi shrugged and they all said their goodbyes and Sasuke continued his reading.

Naruto arrived at his home, and noticed something was out of the ordinary. He drew his knife in his right hand, and readied his arm blade, knowing full well his limitations at the time. He went to the front door, and stood to the side as he opened it. No traps. He continued going, made several clones, and had each one search the house from room to room. He went to the master bedroom, and saw Jiraiya sitting on his bed.

"Hey kid."

"Jiraiya, what are you doing here?"

"Coming to find you. You're coming to find the new Hokage with me."

"And if I refuse?"

"Then the sound village is probably going to attack us again if we can't regroup quickly."

"So it's a matter of our village's security then. Let me get my gear." Naruto went to his closet, but Jiraiya stopped him.

"We don't need to leave for three days, my spy network has a lead on where she's going to be, and we won't need to be there for six days, that's how long it will take for our target to get there."

"She?"

"My former teammate Tsunade, she's the one the council wants for the position."

"Kakashi guessed right. We were talking about this earlier."

"Kakashi always was a smart kid. They wanted him, but he told them no before they could even ask."

"He says he's not cut out for the job, but he's a great leader."

"There's a great deal you don't know about him. Some you may learn in time, other things will forever be hidden from you." Jiraiya spoke as much of himself as he did of Kakashi.

"It seems to be something very common among you shinobi."

"As well as among assassins. It is a human trait, though the people who specialize in taking lives do it much more."

"Indeed. So tell me about Tsunade, I wish to know who I'm going to be taking orders from next."

"I could tell you just the good, or just the bad, but I'll tell you both. Tsunade is a strange character, she can be soft as butter one second and then BAM! She'll explode like dynamite and is hard as stone. She drinks and gambles, has a bit of a temper, but is also very nice and forgiving, she put up with me for twenty years, that shows some serious patience."

"I see…"

"You and the whole village will grow to love her if she accepts. That's the problem though, is getting her to accept. She's rather hard headed, and left Konoha on some rather bad terms."

"And that is why you wish to bring me."

"That and you're good company." Jiraiya laughed.

"That makes sense, no use in bringing an idiot along with you when you go to look for a village's future." Naruto shrugged, a task which his broken ribs made a little painful.

"Well great, we leave in three days, I have a friend on the way who can heal up those ribs nice and new." Jiraiya said, and then disappeared.

-Chapter Twelve: End-

_**Author's Note: Sorry this took long and is basically a filler chapter, but I just finished all my finals, so I've been busy, and home life has been stressful. But here it is! I promise a much better and longer chapter Thirteen, We'll meet Jiraiya's friend, Itachi's new partner and just how is Naruto going to convince Tsunade to come with them? Please R&R!**_

_**Nameless.**_


	13. The Samurai Healer

Yeah, I have to say it again. I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is Supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

-Chapter Thirteen: The Samurai Healer-

Naruto woke up, today was Monday, the day he was supposed to set out with Jiraiya to find and convince Tsunade to return to Konoha as Hokage.

He dressed and armed, he was bringing all his weapons this time, he was even designing a new knife. His first and most beloved blade was growing thin and worn from it's many years of use and sharpening. He also wished to design a new sword. Not because his current one was old, but because he wanted something more suited to his increasingly more ninja like style. The more time he spent here the more he adapted his arts and fused them with the ninja arts.

Kakashi woke early, normally spending these early hours of the morning sleeping, but he felt something strange. He dressed and walked out of his house.

Naruto heard a knock at the door, so he answered to find his teacher Kakashi standing in the doorway with a box wrapped in cloth.

"Where's Sasuke's room?"

"Upstairs… down the hall and to the left. Why?"

"He's coming with you guys, I'm gonna pack for him."

"How do you know?" Naruto raised an eyebrow under his cloak's hood.

"It's what I would have done. He is very much like me. And he wants to surpass you more than even killing Itachi."

"He hides his true potential." Naruto led him into Sasuke's room, it was very sparse. Kakashi pulled Sasuke's rucksack out of the closet, and began packing away clothing, he also opened the box to reveal a pair of sturdy looking combat boots with three straps across the upper part of the boot.

"He needed new shoes." The boots looked similar to his.

"I figured he might want some boots, I'm considering getting some too, I wore some when I was in ANBU and they're way sturdier than these sandals. More combat effective too." He then packed extra weapons, rations and first aid gear in the rucksack. He closed up the rucksack and strapped the sleeping bag to the top.

"I could see Sasuke in ANBU, I may join after I pass the Jounin exam."

"The Special Forces life is not a pretty one, you will have to do things that no other ninja will."

"I've killed more people already than most Chuunin. I understand the feelings I get from killing."

"But you don't like them."

"No, but I've learned to cope."

"As have we all." He shouldered the rucksack, grabbed Sasuke's belt sack and katana, which Naruto had cleaned and sharpened, Naruto also grabbed his small pack.

At the gates they met Jiraiya, who was puzzled at the pack and sword that Kakashi carried.

"Why the gear Kakashi? You coming with us?"

"No, but he'll be here soon."

"The Uchiha?" Jiraiya asked.

"Yeah. He'll come around the corner right…about…now." As if on cue, Sasuke rounded the corner, seeing Kakashi holding his equipment.

"Figured you'd want to tag along, so I packed it all up for you. Now get out of here all of you before the hospital sends someone for Sasuke." Kakashi handed the equipment over to his student and walked off.

"That man's too damn smart." Naruto muttered. He turned and began walking with Jiraiya and his friend.

Several hours of walking later and they found themselves nearly ten klicks away from the village, and they came up to a clearing. What looked like a farm, but there was also a large round clearing with no grass. A man and a young boy stood in this circle, the boy attacking the man and getting himself knocked away by the hard wooden katana every time.

"Still beating your children I see!" Jiraiya shouted. The older man looked up, seeing his friend.

"You've seen my older son, the best swordsman in the whole continent, even better than those Assassins."

"Maybe with a sword, but not in general combat." Naruto said, gaining the attention of the older Japanese man.

"What makes you so sure?"

"I'm one of them. I know their very ways, and if you were to take an assassin of the same age and pit him against your son, your son would die."

"How old are you?"

"Nearly thirteen, my birthday is in four months." Naruto responded. The old man smiled.

"My son Renji is one year older than you. The samurai tradition is that a boy is trained from five years old and becomes a full fledged warrior when he passes his Genpukku ceremony at fifteen years old."

"We have something similar. At twelve we are sent out with our mentor to travel the world and train in different environments until one month before our fifteenth birthday when we return home and take a test to see if we are worthy of the name of the true assassin."

"Yutaro. Go get your brother Renji." The older man said to his son.

"Yes father, do you want me to bring a bokken for our guest?"

"No, I have a method to dull my blade so it will not cut." Naruto said.

"Just tell Renji to bring his."

"Before that, I need you to heal these boys, they fought the Shukaku when the sound and sand villages invaded, both were injured. Can you do me this favor Atashi?" Jiraiya asked.

"I will. That these boys could fight and survive against a demon of that caliber shows that they are strong. Are they your pupils?"

"No, Naruto has learned from me, but they are students of my pupil's last surviving student."

"Ahh, the Hatake man." Atashi smiled. "The Hatake were born a samurai clan, but they were enslaved and eventually became ninja. They were once the greatest rival to my clan the Abarai clan." Atashi instructed the boys inside and as Renji came out, he told the boy to practice with his wooden blade.

Inside, he instructed Sasuke and Naruto to lay on what looked like wooden stretchers with seals painted all over them after he had them strip to just their trousers. Both lay on the wooden beds, Sasuke was first to be treated, Atashi went over his wounds with very concentrated chakra, allowing it to heal the broken bones and lacerated skin with ease. He cut the stitches out of Sasuke's body and then moved on to Naruto. Performing the same tasks, he healed the assassin. They both stood, dressed and then Atashi had them go back outside.

"Renji, you will spar with this boy."

"Naruto, my name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto."

"You will spar with Naruto." Atashi said. Renji nodded and stepped towards the center of the circle. Naruto drew and dulled his sword and knife, as well as his arm blade. He stepped towards the circle.

"I'm gonna beat you real bad Naruto." Renji smirked, holding his bokken in a forward neutral stance.

"We'll see." Naruto also assumed a stance, holding his dulled sword in his right hand. Renji frowned and dashed forward with speed that a young teenage boy should not have, Naruto leaned back and dodged the blade, he stepped in and went to swing, but Renji parried, trying for a head shot, but Naruto blocked with his unused arm blade. A thrust was attempted by the Assassin but Renji side stepped and kicked at Naruto. He stepped to the right, grabbed the leg and kicked the calf of the other leg, causing Renji to fall back. Renji rolled backward and came to his feet ready to attack. Naruto drew his knife and butted Renji in the stomach with it. He grabbed Renji's sword arm and came down on the back of his opponent and kneeing him in the chest. He stepped back as Renji fell raggedly on the floor. The Abarai had lost.

"I see you were truthful when you said that the Assassins were better all around fighters, but pure swordsmanship you lack."

"A sword is to be part of your body is it not? We simply use them as an extension of our arm, using it to cut, or smash." Naruto re-sharpened his sword and sheathed it, as well as his knife. "But Renji is certainly very skilled." Naruto bowed to his opponent and Atashi.

"Well, now that that's over, Atashi, would you be able to give us rooms for the night?"

"I will allow you all to stay for as long as you need Jiraiya my friend." Atashi smiled. "Let me show you your rooms." With that they all went inside.

Naruto and Sasuke shared one room, Jiraiya had his own. They ate a dinner of rice, fish and vegetables. Afterwards however Naruto and Sasuke went outside to practice knife fighting. Renji, Yutaro and even Atashi watched as the two ninja circled each other, Naruto had done away with his cloak and extra gear, Sasuke was too fast of an opponent to face with the extra gear.

Sasuke dashed in, ducked the point of Naruto's knife, caught the arm and went in to cut the tendons. The Assassin grabbed the forearm of Sasuke and kicked his leg with his shin. With a shove of his shoulder he gained ground and went straight for the throat. Sasuke leaned back and came for an uppercut type slash. Naruto stepped back, grabbed Sasuke's wrist and turned his arm so that he held him in an arm bar. Sasuke dropped to one knee and rolled, breaking his arm free. As he rose to his feet he executed a perfectly aimed back kick into Naruto's thigh, effectively slowing him down if not immobilizing him. He switched his knife hand to his left hand, Naruto used his right hand mostly, and only used his left when he was wielding his sword in his right. Sasuke now had the advantage. Naruto was more cautious, he stepped in, feigning a thrust and pulled back, Sasuke stepped in and went for a cut across the chest, but was only rewarded with a knife point nearly hitting his face, but he dodged this like so many other strikes that failed to touch him.

They all watched in amazement as the two boys were striking with pinpoint precision but failing to hit their targets due to the other being too fast. Naruto taught Sasuke almost all he knew about knife fighting, but Sasuke still rivaled him in knife fighting. The fight went on for several more minutes, and eventually Naruto and Sasuke both found a blade at their throats. All clapped when they saw that they were finished.

"Wow Sasuke, you're damn good with that knife." Jiraiya smiled, he'd not seen or heard of anyone that good with a knife since the man that was notorious for escaping from anywhere they put him and often killing people in the process of escaping. Some even said he could see in pitch darkness.

"It's his fault. He taught me how to use it, I just learn well." Sasuke put the edge back on his blade and sheathed it.

"That's not entirely true Sasuke, you have a natural skill with the blade. I pointed you in the right direction, but you advanced farther than I could have possibly taught you." Naruto did the same, and then gathered his cloak and other weapons and they both went inside to bed.

Naruto woke with his blade in his hand, Sasuke was the same. He quickly put his boots on, no time for his other weapons, he went out in his boots, shirt and pants. Sasuke quickly followed. They heard fighting out in front of the house, so they went there. They saw dozens of ninja, against Jiraiya, an unknown man who they assumed was Atashi's oldest son and Atashi himself. They rushed into the fray, and began striking down ninja after ninja. Sasuke sidestepped a sword, and his blade cut through the cartilage of the throat, felling another.

Naruto cut his way to Atashi who wasn't faring well, he'd taken wounds on his chest, and a deep cut over his right eye, partially blinding him. Naruto made several shadow clones, and fended off as many of the remaining ninja as possible. Soon they stood among a mass of dead shinobi, Sasuke had sustained a small cut on his arm, nothing major, but Atashi had been blinded in one eye, stabbed through one knee, and impaled several times.

"Atashi! We need to get you fixed up." Jiraiya ordered Naruto to get necessary equipment for medical attention. Jiraiya first tried to close the wound in his lung, but Atashi stopped him.

"I have lived long enough, I've produced three strong boys, I can die happily knowing I protected my family. Naruto, Sasuke, for such young men you fight with the prowess of men far beyond your age. Grow strong."

"Thank you Atashi sensei." Naruto rarely called anyone by anything other than their name, so it showed that Naruto respected the man.

"Yes, Thank you." Sasuke bowed to the dying man.

"Atashi, You were a good man, I am glad that you were my friend." Jiraiya smiled.

"And I you Jiraiya." He looked over to his son. "Sanosuke, my oldest son, raise my boys, teach them the secrets of Jigoku Mitsurugi Ryu(1) when they are ready."

"I will father." Sanosuke bowed to his father, who died with a smile on his face. That was the end of Abarai Atashi.

-Chapter Thirteen: End-

_**Author's Notes: Jigoku Mitsurugi Ryu means "Hell Sword Style". I originally wanted Tsunade to show up in this chapter, but I decided to turn Jiraiya's friend who was a master healer into a whole chapter. The beds with the seals are part of why he can heal so well, the seals speed up the healing process, along with his mastery of the healing arts. I decided to make him Samurai because they would often be vicious on the battlefield while being quite polite and humble when they weren't. I also threw in a slight reference to a character much like Riddick from the movie "**__**Chronicles of Riddick"**__** just for kicks. Thanks for reading, please review.**_


	14. Finding Tsunade

So Yeah, I really don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is Supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

-Chapter Fourteen: Finding Tsunade-

After Atashi's cremation Jiraiya had the boys pack up and they set out as the cremation was done at dawn. Jiraiya had seem rather downcast, one of his close friends was now dead. Even Sasuke and Naruto who had only known him for a day had grown to like the man.

"So where to now Jiraiya?" Naruto asked.

"We're heading towards a town called Tanzaku. There's a huge gambling den there and Tsunade is going to be there." Jiraiya informed them.

"That's about two days away." Sasuke said, "Unless we travel a little faster." They all nodded and picked up the pace.

-_**Elsewhere**_-

"Sir, we've gotten reports that all the ninja that were sent to assassinate Atashi were killed. But the mission was successful."

"Good, what of Jiraiya and the two boys with him?"

"They were the ones who killed most of our ninja." The man seemed to frown at this.

"Have some of our elites go to Tanzaku, that's where they're expected to be going."

"How many sir?"

"As many as we can afford without compromising our other missions. Bring the Uchiha back alive. I want him here. Now go."

"Yes milord."

_**-With Naruto-**_

They were half a day from their destination when they set up their camp. Eventually Sasuke settled for the first watch. He was sitting, playing with the idea of using his Sharingan in different ways than just copying jutsu.

_Maybe I can use it to see in dark environments_ He thought, remembering that man that Jiraiya had told them about, the one who was an escape artist. He focused the chakra into his eyes, activating the Sharingan. He then focused more thought on making everything lighter, and with time and some chakra he was successful. Everything he saw was lighter, but had a red tint to it. He jumped when Naruto came for the next shift.

When Sasuke opened his eyes he yelled in pain.

"What's wrong Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"I tried something yesterday, and it's still activated, and it won't go away."

"What did you do?" Jiraiya questioned.

"I made my Sharingan allow me to see in the dark, but it's stuck this way."

"Here, put this over your eyes until we can get you some glasses or goggles or something to protect your eyes." Jiraiya handed him a piece of cloth which he tied over his eyes.

"So I'll be walking blind for a half day. Great."

"It's your fault." Naruto said, They rucked up and moved out.

After a half a day, they reached Tanzaku, and found a shop that sold various types of glasses, but Sasuke didn't like them, so he decided to go over to the local blacksmith and he pilfered a pair of dark tinted goggles. He returned to their hotel room and Naruto laughed.

"What?"

"Those goggles make you look ridiculous. It's the chicken ass hair." Sasuke frowned, he'd never really cared for his hair, but he'd never bothered to cut it either.

"What do you propose then Naruto?"

"Here." He handed Sasuke the razor sharp knife that he used to shave his head.

"You seriously expect me to shave my head?"

"You can grow it out to a length you like it, or keep it shaved, personally I'd keep it close trimmed; It prevents people from sneaking up on you and cutting your throat by grabbing your hair."

"I don't give a shit what you think, I've always had my hair this way."

"Okay. I just think it makes you look funny."

"Coming from you, It doesn't really mean much." Sasuke was interrupted when Jiraiya came back.

"We're on the move guys, Tsunade has been spotted in town. Nice goggles Sasuke." Sasuke smirked at Naruto.

They found Tsunade at a bar, drinking with her assistant Shizune. Jiraiya sat down, then Naruto, then Sasuke.

"Interesting crew you've got here Jiraiya, an Assassin and a goggled Uchiha. What do you want?" She snapped with the last bit. He smiled and produced a deck of playing cards.

"Well, as you may or may not know, Sarutobi sensei is dead." Jiraiya said, shuffling the cards. A look of shock came over Tsunade's face.

"About time the old geezer kicked the bucket."

"He was killed Tsunade. By Orochimaru."

"Still doesn't surprise me though."

"We need a new Hokage." Naruto cut in. She looked over to Naruto.

"So who's the kid?"

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto." Jiraiya introduced him.

"So Al-Tair got his hands on him judging by the way he's dressed."

"Yeah, he was raised there." He dealt a blackjack hand. "So do you accept?"

"No. I'm not gonna die for a village like all the others did. It's pointless." Tsunade said. "All of them were stupid for it." This got Naruto angry, so angry that he flipped over the table as he stood up and his arm blade was pointed at Tsunade's throat.

"TAKE IT BACK!" He yelled. She smirked, she knew that the Assassins were trained to control their emotions so she must have really pissed him off.

"No. All of them were idiots, my grandfather, my teacher, even your father." She knew that was a bad idea when Naruto's fist collided with her face with bone jarring force. She was knocked out of her chair and several feet back. Shizune stood up, but Jiraiya stopped her.

"This is their fight."

"You take it back! I'm going to be a Hokage!" Naruto shouted, scaring many of the other patrons.

"Let's take this outside kid." She stood up, wiping the corner of her mouth, and walked outside. Naruto followed, holding himself back from planting his sword in her skull. She turned around, and saw Naruto standing there, arms down and seething in anger.

"So you wanna be Hokage huh kid?"

"Yeah, and if it means killing scum like you with no honor, then I'll do it."

"You don't know what that village took from me!"

"They took my father, my mother, all my family, and yet I still continue to serve them. I have honor, enough that when given the choice to stay in Masyaf and serve them, I said I'd serve the village of my family."

"I'll make you a deal. If you can land another hit like that first one on me then I'll come back. And…" She unclasped the necklace around her neck and held it up "I'll give you this." She pocketed the necklace.

"Deal. If I don't hit you?"

"Then I'll kill you. Plain and simple." Tsunade ducked as the crossbow bolt flew overhead. She moved forward as he put his projectile away. He came in with an uppercut, and when that failed, it was a kick to the stomach which she also dodged.

"Naruto! Move!" Sasuke shouted as a ninja jumped from the roof and attempted to cut him down the middle. Several dozen more came, surrounding them all.

"I count fifty. Well since it's nice and dark, let's remove these." Sasuke pulled down his goggles and let them come to rest around his neck. His gleaming red Sharingan shown bright, He drew his sword. He cut down the first one, and crushed the skull of another with his booted foot. Naruto also drew his sword, Jiraiya released a string of seals, using a jutsu and burning several of them before any had a chance to do anything. Tsunade and Shizune used their individual styles, but Shizune was not one for group combat so she quickly escaped, using her needle shooter to neutralize ninja who weren't looking her way.

Naruto soon was covered in the blood of enemies, his sword weighed heavy in his hands, and his cloak weighing his whole body down. He kicked a man in the chest to knock him back and soon discarded the heavy garment, his black shirt and pants seemed much lighter. Soon he fought with renewed energy. Knife in one hand and sword in the other he cut the opposing shinobi down.

Sasuke slashed the face of his enemy with a knife, as he turned to face another, he felt a blade pierce his right arm, he was taken by surprise by an enemy. His sword clattered to the ground, now left with his knife, he let his instincts take over and he'd soon cut down many enemies.

The carnage subsided as the last enemy ninja turned tail and ran, leaving several dozen dead, Sasuke, Shizune, and Naruto all sustaining injuries, and Tsunade and Jiraiya slightly tired(1). Naruto walked over to Tsunade, and as she turned to look at him he planted a heavy fist into her face.

"I win the bet. You're coming back." He picked up his cloak and draped it over his shoulders not bothering to button it back up.

"You little shit. Though I never said the specifics, I guess that was my downfall after all." She sighed "I'll come back." She then turned to look at Sasuke who was currently trying to stop the flow of blood coming from his right arm. "Let's get you three cleaned up first." Tsunade began to heal Sasuke who had taken the most serious injury, a sword through the right tricep and out through the bicep. She healed his arm, but told him not to use it in any strenuous activity for about a week. Naruto had a few small lacerations and puncture wounds, but nothing serious. Tsunade simply disinfected him and bandaged all the offending areas. Shizune was in a similar state with very minor injuries.

The next day they set out from Tanzaku, heading back toward Konoha, Jiraiya informed her of the current state of things, the damages, and the rest of the information that the council asked that he tell her. Naruto and Sasuke talked spoke about mostly Naruto's new design for his weapons, and things that ninja converse about while traveling.

They traveled at a constant pace and arrived at Konoha in a day and a half, they hadn't stopped for a day like the traveling to Tanzaku so they had made better time. In town, older ninja who recognized her waved to Tsunade, those who had heard rumors of her coming back smiled knowing that they now had a new leader.

Naruto and Sasuke went home, and immediately went about their own tasks, Sasuke went to go take a shower, and Naruto dropped his cloak and rucksack off in his room before setting off again. He made his way to a store that sold all types of ninja gear, and began browsing.

"Can I help you?" an older man asked, a retired ninja judging by his scars.

"Yes, I'm looking for some new gear, What would you recommend in terms of cloaks, the one I had before was made of a thick canvas, but I decided it's time for a change." Naruto said.

"Well, if you're looking for anything to fight in, then I'd have to say go for a gi or a vest rather than a cloak, it would allow more movement and often storage space than a cloak, they're less cumbersome in forest and jungle environments and if you're in water then it won't weigh you down." The older man explained. Naruto appeared to be in thought, trying to decide what he would do. He walked over to the area where there were different colored gi, mostly shades of gray, blue, brown, green and red.

"What about the black shirts that most higher ranked ninja wear under their vests?" Naruto asked

"Over here. We have all the standard ninja gear and a lot of stuff that isn't standard." He directed the assassin to the area that had all the different shinobi gear that is usually seen on Chuunin and Jounin. Naruto looked at the shirts, fireproof up to 600 degrees Celsius, quick drying, and durable. He pulled a few off the rack, he also went over to the weapons rack, looking at the weapons to work on his design.

"Hey who makes these?" Naruto asked.

"That's the Kasumi smithery. They live on the east side of the village, the best weapons in the whole land of fire."

"Thanks, I'll take these." Naruto handed the man two thousand Ryou for five of the shirts. He walked out of the store and headed toward the east side of the village, looking for the Kasumi smithery. He passed several other shops, this appeared to be the blacksmithing district. Finally he looked up and saw a sign that said "Kasumi family smithery" and he walked in.

"Hello?" Naruto saw nobody in the shop. He heard movement, but was surprised at what he saw.

"You're that guy from the Chuunin exams. I'm Tenten, I got booted in the preliminaries."

"I was looking for the head smith. I'm working on a new design for a sword, but I need a bit of help."

"Well, I'm the designer of all our weapons, my dad just makes them. So what kind of weapon are you looking for?" Naruto pulled out his sword and laid it on the counter.

"I have this now, and I want something of similar weight, but I want it to resemble a katana. Also I want this symbol put in the blade." Naruto turned and pointed to the tattoo on the back of his head.

"Well, this appears to be made of a titanium iron alloy judging by the weight and how sharp it is. You use this one handed?"

"Most of the time. That's why I want the same weight in a katana design. So I can use it two handed too."

"It's easily three or four times heavier than a katana, pick that one up over there, the black and red handle." Naruto did as he was instructed and when he did he was surprised, even his dad's swords were heavy, the one he held now was maybe as light as his knife was before he switched out the handles for a lighter metal.

"See the difference? Wherever you had this sword made must make swords for insanely strong men. How about that dagger there? Can I see that?" Naruto obliged and handed her the knife.

"Same blade, but it looks like you switched the handles out, an aluminum handle now, a brass handle like the sword before?" Tenten asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know all of that?"

"My dad's a blacksmith, I'm next in line for the family business, I have to know all this. But I want to know why they used a brass handle and the Titanium blade?"

"To balance it out, the long blade would be unbalanced if we had a metal of the same weight as the handle. But since we used a heavier metal it balanced it out. I changed it to aluminum because it was lighter than the titanium. The iron was used to keep it as a metal and not change it into a carbide. And so it doesn't explode when we made the blades." Naruto took his blades and sheathed them. Tenten was surprised at his knowledge of different metals and what happened when exposed to heat.

"So you want a katana made of a titanium iron alloy? I could do it but it's going to be expensive. Any handle preferences?"

"No, I also need a knife made, not like this one, but also made of the Titanium Iron alloy."

"I have a perfect idea. I can get them both done in two weeks. If you want I can make it a Chokuto so it's not too much of a transition." Tenten knew how hard it was to change from one weapon to another. Especially when you only have experience with one of them.

"Thanks, that'll work. How much will it run me?"

"I'll tell you when they're finished, that way I can order the materials first."

"Okay, I'll be back in two weeks." Naruto left, heading back to his house. When he arrived, an ANBU was waiting for him. "Can I help you?" Naruto asked the masked ninja.

"We need you to report to the Hokage's office, it's important."

-Chapter 14: End-

_**Author's Note: Yeah, I ended it in a cliffhanger. I've always wanted to try it. The whole thing about titanium took me a great deal of research. I know that it's lighter than steel, but I reason that all their weapons are incredibly light because they're designed that way for efficiency, The Assassins however just condition their trainees to be incredibly strong. **_

_**Well, that's about it, Please review.**_


	15. Chuunin

I Don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

Bold is Supernatural speech

-Chapter Fifteen: Chuunin-

Naruto ran towards the Hokage tower, matching the speed of the ANBU escort easily. He arrived in a few short minutes, standing in the office of the Hokage.

"Naruto, I've been over the reports of the attack on Konoha, and according to them you're more than qualified to be Chuunin." She produced a scroll, handing it to him. "So congratulations, you and Nara Shikamaru were the only ones to pass the exams." The Hokage gestured to the bored looking teen to his left. Shikamaru just shrugged, he didn't care really.

"Thanks. I have a favor to ask, I need three weeks leave to go and visit Masyaf." Naruto asked, Tsunade seemed to be in deep thought for a moment, but then responded.

"You can go if you take your team. That's the only way I'll let you go, I don't want any of our ninja traveling by themselves that far north."

"I'll see if they will allow me to bring them inside the city, Masyaf has never before allowed any outsiders inside the walls of the city."

"Hopefully you can pull some strings then, because if not then you'll have to find some other way to spend your leave." Naruto nodded before he turned and walked out of the office.

When he arrived at his house, he went into his room and began to write a letter to Al-Tair who was now the active leader of the Brotherhood. It read:

_"Al-Tair,_

_How are things in Masyaf? I'm doing well, I made Chuunin today, and I hope to some see you all soon. This leads me to the favor I need to ask you, Tsunade, now our standing Hokage because of the death of Sarutobi by Orochimaru's hand, decided that the only way for me to come to Masyaf is that you allow my team to come. You know Hatake Kakashi, my other two teammates are Uchiha Sasuke, who is not like his brother in the least save for his incredible skill with a blade. Haruno Sakura is also skilled, but she still has a long way to go, I'm the closest to her out of any in the village._

_I know the usual rules against having outsiders in the city, but I ask that you let them come, They will keep all secrets you or any of our brethren allow them to see, I swear on it. Until you write back._

_Naruto" _

Naruto rolled up the letter and sent it off with his personal messenger bird. He then got up to go in search of his other teammates. Sasuke was in the training room sparring with his sword against a shadow clone.

"Hey Sasuke, how'd you like to go to Masyaf?" Sasuke dropped the sword in his hands,

"_Masyaf was the land Naruto had come from isn't it?"_ Sasuke thought, he'd seen Naruto in combat, if he could get even a shred of training from Naruto's teacher in Masyaf he'd be that much stronger. "When?"

"I have to wait for Al-Tair to write back, and I have to wait for the Kasumi family to finish my new blades but when that's finished we're going."

"Of course I'd come."

"Good. I have to go find Sakura and Kakashi, I'll see you later." Naruto turned and left, Sasuke picked up his sword and felt a fool for dropping it, but that was quite unexpected.

Naruto knocked on the door at Kakashi's house, which was promptly answered by Mitarashi Anko.

"Can I help you?" She asked, clad in nothing but a blanket covering her assets.

"I'm…looking for Kakashi. Am I at the wrong house?" Naruto swore he was in the right place.

"No, this is his house, gimme a sec." Anko went back inside and after a minute Kakashi came out wearing just his mask and pants.

"What's up Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"I can come back later if you want…" Naruto was unsure of what was going on, but he really didn't want to know.

"Naah, it's fine, so what did you want."

"Well I'm going to Masyaf in a few weeks but Tsunade wants me to bring you guys along, so I was just seeing if you wanted to come."

"Yeah, definitely. But I thought outsiders weren't allowed in Masyaf?" Kakashi scratched his head. "Even Yondaime never got inside."

"I know, but Al-Tair will probably make an exception for you guys."

"Well then yeah I guess. If that's all then I have something to get back to so I'll see you later." Naruto shook his head, and Kakashi went back inside.

_"I'm going to pretend I never saw that. And I'm never going to mention this to Sasuke." _Naruto thought, exaggerating a shiver. He went off towards Sakura's house. When he arrived there Sakura's mom said that she was with Ino. Naruto then made his way to the Yamanaka flower shop. He arrived at the shop to find that they weren't there either, so now he was on the hunt for Sakura and Ino. He took to the rooftops, looking for them wouldn't be hard. He made several dozen clones to join the hunt. After a good twenty minutes of searching, one of the Naruto clones spotted the pink haired shinobi, and committed suicide to send the information to Naruto.

Naruto stopped as he felt the memories of that particular clone, and disabled the rest, heading toward his friend. When he reached the location of Sakura he jumped from the roof behind her into the alley below and decided he'd play like he just bumped into her.

Sakura was walking with her friend, when suddenly she bumped into a green vested chest, she looked up and saw a ninja looking down at her, then she realized who it was.

"Naruto! You look so different without the cloak!" Ino shouted. Sakura smiled, the vest meant he'd made Chuunin.

"So what are you doing over here in the shopping district anyway?" Sakura asked.

"Oh, you know, just spending part of the massive fortune my father left me." Naruto smirked, they knew that he was putting them on, but he was having fun. Ino heard the words 'massive fortune' and that was all it took.

"How massive are we talking?" Ino turned to her friend's current love interest.

"Ino!" Sakura scolded. "What are you really doing here?"

"I was actually looking for you, you see I'm supposed to be going to Masyaf here in a few weeks but Tsunade said I need to bring someone with me. I already asked Kakashi and Sasuke, and all that leaves is you." Naruto looked down on his shorter teammate. Naruto had told her about how beautiful the surrounding mountains and forests were but she never thought she would get a chance to see them. Ino had also heard about it through Sakura, she had a look of pure envy on her face, not only did Sakura have Sasuke on her team, she also had Naruto on her team who was the Yondaime's son, and apparently he was going on a trip to somewhere beautiful and offering to take Sakura. "So? Are you coming?"

"Of course I'm coming! When are we going?" Sakura had gotten over her shock and answered frantically.

"Great, let's go get some lunch, I didn't come to just ask you about that, we need food." Naruto turned and started walking down the street, Sakura and Ino looked at each other before heading off towards him, nothing like a free meal.

They ended up going to one of the higher end restaurants in Konoha, the place one usually takes a date, the man who would usually seat people gave Naruto an envious look when he saw two girls accompanying him.

"Naruto, why aren't you wearing the cloak like usual?" Ino asked.

"Well I've decided for a change of pace really. I'm getting a new sword made too, the hand and a half sword I have now is really heavy, and since I'm working for Konoha now instead of the Brotherhood I should probably look something like a ninja."

"So basically you're dressing for your part." Ino deadpanned.

"Yeah, makes it harder for people to identify me out of all the other ninja." They got their food which they'd previously ordered and began eating while talking amongst themselves.

Naruto arrived at his house, Sasuke was watching T.V., clearly tired from a day of training. Naruto came in and sat on the couch next to him.

"How was your hunting?" Sasuke asked. Naruto shivered for a second, arousing Sasuke's attention. "What was that about?"

"Anko…naked…Kakashi's house." Naruto rambled. Sasuke got the general idea from that.

"Wasn't Anko the second exam proctor? The crazy woman with the huge rack and knife fetish?" Naruto burst into laughter. He'd never heard Sasuke say something like that.

"Yeah…That's the one." Naruto was still laughing. "I can't believe you said that."

"What? that's the easiest way to describe her. How would you describe her?" Sasuke responded, Naruto could find no answer to the question.

"So far if Al-Tair decides that the rules can be bent then it looks like we're going to Masyaf." Naruto stood up. "I'm going to bed, I want to start doing missions until I get the status on our vacation."

"You can do solo missions now, lucky."

"I'll still come do missions with team seven. I won't abandon you all." With that Naruto walked upstairs.

**-One week later-**

Naruto woke up to the sound of his messenger bird scratching at his window. He allowed the bird inside and took the message from it's back. He opened it and it had the red and white ribbon of the Brotherhood. Naruto opened the message. It read:

_"Naruto,_

_I would be glad to allow Kakashi and your team to come to Masyaf. I have been thinking about having a treaty signed with Konoha due to our unofficial involvement with them for so long and make it official. I'm proud of you for making Chuunin, it means you're one step closer to your dream. Send a letter ahead of you when you come so I am able to have your quarters prepared. Al-Ramiz, your old training partner broke his new training partner's arm last week. He's too cocky the new kid, maybe your friend Sasuke could teach him something if he's as skilled with the blade as you say. This Sakura girl, what is she like? If she can catch the attention of a Namikaze like your mother then she must be wonderful, your mother was Minato's first girlfriend, and his last sadly, as they both passed the way they did, but they loved each other deeply. I hope to be seeing you soon Naruto, and to meet your new friends. Be safe on your trip._

_Al-Tair"_

Naruto rolled up the letter and put it in the drawer with the rest of Al-Tair's letters. Al-Ramiz was his old training partner, much like the three man cells here in Konoha they trained together and learned as well, and in some cases they spent their three year travels together. Al-Ramiz was strong, the only younger member of the Brotherhood to ever match Naruto in a fight, that was until Naruto had destroyed the boy's ankle with a sweep. Naruto and Al-Ramiz always wrote, Naruto often wrote two letters to Masyaf, one for Al-Tair, and one for Al-Ramiz, one of his only close friends there. Naruto dressed and went to find his team and tell them that their trip was a go.

He found them training at their usual field, he told them, they smiled and asked him to train with them, it was then that Naruto realized that Kakashi had a weapon he'd never seen before.

"What is that Kakashi?" Naruto asked, pointing to the sword he held.

"It's my ANBU sword, I had one custom made when I kept destroying the regular ones. Titanium iron alloy, heavier but stronger." Kakashi handed the blade over.

"My swords and my new ones are going to be made from the same thing." It was a standard looking sword, slightly shorter than a katana, designed to be carried on the back, but not short enough to be a technical Kodachi. It had the kanji for "lone wolf" etched into the blade.

"They called me that because I always took solo missions, even when the mission required teams, you guys are the first team I've ever worked with since my Gennin days." Kakashi said, accepting the blade.

"Why? You seem to work well enough with other people." Sasuke questioned. Kakashi had a sad look in his visible eye.

"It's because when I was young my team was sent to stop an Iwa jounin team and they were all killed, that was when I got my Sharingan, and it was one of the missions that got Yondaime his reputation as the Yellow Flash. I was always afraid of losing any teammates I would work with, Al-Tair was the only one who I worked with in ANBU, but we never really were a team, we went when there were too many enemies to kill single handed."

"So you're the ninja he used to talk about." Naruto muttered.

"Yeah, we would turn missions into sort of contests, we'd play 'who's the better killer' as some people call it." Kakashi looked at his team. "Enough moping, let's go celebrate going into land that's essentially unknown to the ninja world!" They all walked off field, but Kakashi stopped Naruto. "You didn't tell them about Anko did you?"

"Not really, I told Sasuke I saw her at your house naked, but I never really said anything."

"Good, they don't need to know."

"Sasuke called her the crazy woman with the huge rack and the knife fetish." Kakashi laughed.

"Doesn't sound like something he would say." he began walking toward the gate.

"That's what I said." Naruto walked with him.

-Chapter Fifteen: End-

_**Author's Note: Well, I wanted to give them a little OOCness. The whole Kakashi and Anko thing was just because I was really bored and was reading another story and read the word KakaAnko and decided to play with the idea. Essentially another filler, but there'll be more action soon, I will however be taking some time between chapters to begin my new story. It'll be another Naruto fic, of instead of Naruto finding some cool power or getting help, he's building it from the ground up Lee style(Well sort of).**_

_**A slightly darker Naruto will be the outcome, but I've been itching to write a new one and this feels like it.**_


	16. Masyaf

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is Supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts and flashbacks_

_**Author's Note: This chapter will likely be about 1.5-2 times as long as my normal chapters because I have to include a lot of details in it.**_

-Chapter Sixteen: Masyaf-

Naruto was finally about to get his new blades, to say he was excited would about cover it. He made his way to the Kasumi weapon shop, to see Tenten was manning the counter again.

"Hey Naruto! You've come for your blades I assume?" Naruto nodded. She went behind the curtain to return with a pair of weapons. "Here you are. The metal wasn't as expensive as I remember, only nine thousand ryou for enough to make both blades." She set them down on the counter. "Your total will be eighteen thousand ryou."

"Not as expensive as I would think." Naruto pulled out his wallet and handed over the appropriate bills.

"Well since you need to test those out would you like to spar?" Tenten proposed.

"I suppose, it'll give me something to do as well. We're not set to leave until tomorrow."

"Your team going on a mission?"

"No, vacation." Naruto picked up his blades, examining them, the sword was a Chokuto, in essence a straight katana. It had the markings that he'd asked for, the symbol of the Brotherhood. The hilt was a simple square hilt, the handle was wrapped in a black cord while the actual handle was brass covered with red ray skin. The knife was a smaller version of the Chokuto, but instead of the brass handle it was made of wood with leather over it, there was only a small, flat cross hilt. Both blades were solid black, reflecting light only on the sharpened edge where the glaze had been ground away.

"These are perfect. I'd easily pay twice as much for something of this caliber." Naruto said, Tenten smiled at the compliment.

"I made them myself. Father helped me only with the fittings."

"Then you're a truly skilled smith Tenten, let's hope you're equally good with your blades."

The two ninja arrived at a training ground and stood facing each other.

Naruto had placed the sword on his belt like his old one, but this one fit the loops that were stitched around the waist of his Chuunin vest. His knife was placed across his lower back horizontally. He drew the sword, testing the balance and weight with a few spins in his hand before he fell into his usual stance. Tenten was puzzled, she'd never seen a stance like his before.

"You have an unusual stance Namikaze." Tenten unsealed a sword as well, a simple katana with a piece of cotton bandage like material around the handle.

"It's highly effective I assure you. I can evenly match an Abarai, the best of the Samurai clans in all countries with our style." Naruto waited for Tenten to charge, he blocked and parried the downward cut, his counter was a horizontal slash, which she jumped away from. Naruto advanced with a thrust, having his blade knocked aside he used the momentum and went into a low sweep, knocking the Kasumi off balance, he stepped in with a diagonal slash which barely nicked Tenten's shoulder. This time Tenten took the offensive, slashing with both hands, Naruto dodged the slash and with his palm he struck her in the stomach, knocking her to the ground. As she tried to get up he had his blade pointed at her throat.

"Dead." He sheathed his blade and helped her up.

"You're good Naruto." Tenten sealed the sword away. "And you didn't use the extending blade on your arm either, that means I'd likely be dead with the palm strike?"

"Yes, but you're good as well. I have to go, my stuff is still unpacked and I need to pack it. Thank you for your help and the match." Naruto bowed slightly before he left.

Back at the house Naruto changed into his cloak and other gear. The reason was because if he didn't then his team would be killed a mile out, but with his cloak he could show that he was one of the Brotherhood and when he showed them the letter from Al-Tair that would allow them access to the city, they would be escorted to the head assassin's office where they would learn the conditions of their stay. Naruto knew they would likely have some sort of mind altering jutsu used on them, except for him because he bore the mark of the Assassins, the tattoo on the back of his head.

All his gear packed, Naruto spent the rest of the day training.

When he woke up the next day Naruto dressed in his Assassin cloak, putting his new weapons where his old ones would be. He would also have to present the code in Arabic, an incredibly difficult language to speak for an untrained tongue. The final test would be that Naruto would have to go and present his sword to Al-Tair, one that had special markings on the hilt and handle to identify the user. If he failed to present even one of these he and all of team seven would be killed immediately, Masyaf would also then be well within it's rights to declare war on Konoha, they had the man power and skill to win it to. He put his pack over his shoulders and went to meet Sasuke downstairs before meeting his team at the North gate.

"You decided to go back to the cloak? I think it looks cooler than the vest." Sasuke smirked, his usual facial expression.

"You'll understand why when we get to Masyaf." Naruto pulled his hood up over his hitai ate which was still worn as a bandana. They set off to meet everyone. They arrived to see Kakashi already there, Naruto had warned him that if he was late to meet them that he would burn every single shred of his perverted literature, and then tell Tsunade that Kakashi had become a peeping tom like Jiraiya. Kakashi made sure to arrive early. They arrived, then Sakura shortly after. They set off shortly after.

The three day trek from Konoha to the outskirts of the fortress city known as Masyaf was uneventful, a simple three day hike at ninja speeds.

When they got within three miles of the gates, they passed into a narrow valley, guard towers on each side with a pair of guards in towers, they leveled their crossbows at the team.

"Brother! You know the laws against outsiders on our grounds! Now present your pass, turn back, or die!" One shouted, Naruto reached in one of his pouches and pulled out a letter with Al-Tair's seal.

"I have a letter from the Head Assassin Al-Tair Ibn La'Ahad here in my hand! I ask permission to come show you!" The guard nodded, Naruto turned to his team. "Stay here, and stay still or you'll all die, you can't see them but just over that hill there, a dozen of our men are posted waiting for orders to attack." Naruto then turned and went to the tower, the guard watching him with a trained eye the whole way, Naruto held up one hand and with the other handed him the letter. After careful examination he nodded and in Arabic shouted to the other guard. Naruto climbed down and instructed his team to follow.

"Are there posts like this all around?"

"Yeah, there's a valley to the south here, it branches off east, there's the bridge over it, and on the west and north there are mountain passes." Naruto informed them of the area's terrain. After they reached just under a mile they came across another checkpoint, which they passed through in a similar way. When they reached the city wall, all but Naruto gawked at the massive wall.

"The wall is coated in a solution that wards off chakra, making it impossible to climb, and any ladder tall enough would collapse under it's own weight." When they reached the gate, Naruto told them to stay put, he walked up to the guards. "Brothers, I've brought these ninja from Konoha under special permission from Al-Tair. Here is the letter of approval from the Head Assassin himself." Naruto took the letter out and handed it to him. The guards both looked it over carefully, all guards of the city were trained in detecting counterfeits, the letter was written in Arabic as well, a language which no one in the Gokuni knew outside of himself and the Brotherhood.

"Show us the mark, present your blade, and the password." Naruto turned around and lowered his hood, it showed the symbol of the Assassin, A letter that resembled an equilateral triangle with the lower line missing, a wreath surrounding the bottom, and underneath the wreath was a single curved line. Naruto reached into his pack, pulled out a scroll and unsealed his first sword. He handed it to the guard handle first, in Arabic his name was written across the handle. He was called "Narut" here by some who spoke mainly Arabic had no 'O' sound. Because of this his sword said "Uzumaki Narut" instead of his full name. He then accepted his sword, sealed it in the scroll, and put it away. "The Password Brother." one guard said.

"Nhn Ausud Mn Aujbal.(1)" The guards smiled, and then stepped back to their posts on the sides of the gate. Naruto turned around and motioned for them to follow, a single guard waited to escort them to the Head Assassin's office. They saw a bustling city, but as they traveled up deeper into the town, they saw more guards, and more armed men. The fortress city of Masyaf was similar in design to Konoha. When they reached the gate like entrance of the tower, all of them were told that drawing any weapons here was against the rules except in the fighting ring. Naruto informed them that if they did so they would likely be killed, or imprisoned and tortured, then killed. They went up the slope and into the building, the main hall was guarded by twelve men, each flanking the entrance in two rows of six. They went up the stairs that were to the right and all walked into a room that resembled the Hokage's in some ways. Al-Tair sat at this desk, he dismissed the guard, and stood to greet his student.

"Naruto, it's good to see you. I see that you remembered to wear your cloak. A good idea, but I see you have obtained a new weapon. May I see it?"

" You never have to ask Siid.(2)" Naruto drew the blade and handed it over.

"But it's polite to ask Tarba.(3)" He looked at his Naruto's teammates, and smiled. "Come Naruto! You have yet to introduce me to your friends!"

"I apologize Siid. You know Hatake Kakashi, This is Uchiha Sasuke." Naruto held his hand over to Sasuke, who bowed slightly. Al-Tair also did. He then motioned to Sakura "This is Haruno Sakura." She bowed much lower, more the kind to acknowledge powerful figures with much humility.

"Naruto has told me many great things about you in his letters. I see his words of your beauty are not just tales, and for someone so young, you have much growing to do." Sakura blushed profusely at Al-Tair's words. Naruto blushed slightly, but it was hidden by his cloak. "I must show you all to your quarters. And after that we will have a dinner so that we can celebrate a first in Masyaf's history!" They were shown to their rooms to drop off their stuff and clean up.

About an hour later all of team seven was assembled in the main hall, Al-Tair was waiting for them, he then led them to the banquet room where they were seated closest to him while Al-Tair's generals and best assassins were seated farther down the table. Food ranged from well prepared steaks, to ramen (courtesy of Naruto living here at one time). They ate and talked amongst each other, Sasuke sat next to a general, and spoke with him about battle tactics. Al-Tair stood up, and silenced the whole group, he then began to speak.

"Gentlemen and lady, Today here in Masyaf we have experienced a first among the Brotherhood." He motioned for team Seven to stand up. "Here we have three ninja from Konoha and one of our own who has become a ninja in the hidden village of leaves. He is my Tarba, his name is Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, and because of him we are to form an alliance with Konoha!" Many assassins and generals clapped. One however stood, objecting.

"Siid, I mean no disrespect but what can these ninja do? We have reports in all nation of our brothers killing ninja of greater numbers."

"Al-Akir, I want to know who is the best Tarba in your unit?" Al-Tair asked the general.

"Why that would be Al-Kahil of course."

"Naruto, would you wager this alliance with Konoha on Sasuke's skill with a blade?"

"I would Siid, Sasuke has no rival in our village, he is better than I with a knife or dagger."

"Al-Akir, call Al-Kahil to the fighting ring, we will see just what the Konoha ninja can do." Al-Tair led all of the men out to the ring.

Sasuke stood inside the ring, his sword in front of him, he was meditating, this ring was a large fenced in circle, his enemy was close to if not as good as Naruto, so his best bet would be to disarm the boy, and attack with his knife while his Sharingan was active. He stood, placing his sword in his belt, he saw his opponent. Al-Kahil was bigger than Naruto, easily out weighing him by thirty pounds easily. He smirked, his opponent looked confused. They dulled the edges of their blades, and began.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke's eyes changed, the bloodline skill of his family now active. He fell into a battou stance. The assassin smirked and walked towards Sasuke ignorant of the sword style of Samurai and ninja, Sasuke charged chakra into his legs, and dashed forward so fast that no one could see him until he was in front of Al-Kahil his sword already contacting the boy and sending him sprawling. He stood at his full height, and assumed a forward stance. Al-Kahil stood up and wiped the blood off his lips. He stepped forward and tried to attack Sasuke, but Sasuke parried his blow, and with a thrust knocked the assassin trainee back. Al-Kahil growled in anger, these ninja were supposed to be weaker than them.

"Rule one of combat, never be too eager to rush your opponent." Sasuke smirked, he assumed his forward stance again. All who saw Sasuke fight knew the difference immediately between the two teens. Sasuke had taken lives, Al-Kahil had not. Ignoring Sasuke, he stepped in again, to Sasuke it seemed like slow motion, but to everyone else it was quite fast. Sasuke blocked the downward blow high, and took the other boy's wrist, he pulled his arms back over his shoulders, Al-Kahil dropped his sword. Sasuke followed through and threw the boy with a jujitsu throw. Sasuke kicked the sword away, sheathing his he drew his knife. Naruto grinned, Sasuke's real skill would shine now.

"Rule two, never let your emotions cloud your judgment." Sasuke waited for his knife wielding opponent come, but when he didn't stepped forward with the same blinding speed as before, and jammed the pommel of the knife into the boy's ribs, where Sasuke had struck with the battou jutsu. The boy screamed in pain, but Sasuke kept up the assault, striking at vital points, and finally going under one of the boy's thrusts and from behind poising his blade and body to slit his throat.

"You're good, but I have the Sharingan. So even the best are slow to me." Sasuke slid the blade across his throat. "Dead." He then went to hand Al-Kahil his sword back.

"You are right Al-Tair. These ninja are good, this one has obviously had combat experience." Al-Akir admitted his defeat. Naruto congratulated his friend.

"You've proved yourself in the pit. Al-Kahil is good, but Al-Ramiz may give you a run for your money, perhaps we can arrange it if Siid says so." Naruto looked at Al-Tair.

"Tomorrow, Al-Ramiz is probably at home with his father, he trained hard today." Sasuke grinned, he would love to fight this Al-Ramiz. He returned to the Head Assassin's house, it was beginning to get dark and Sasuke wanted to get up early to explore the city.

-Chapter Sixteen: End-

(1)Nhn Ausud Mn Aujbal: This is a very rough translation, but it is Arabic, and means "We are the Lions in the mountains" I used this because of an idea I plan on using.

(2) Siid: Another rough translation, meaning Master, literally meaning Reigned, the Arabic equivalent of the Japanese Sama.

(3) Tarba: Literally meaning student.

_**Author's Note: Okay, before I get any negative comments about Sasuke kicking the royal shit out of the OC, I want everyone to know three things.(1) Sasuke has seen actual combat, this does something to the human psyche, it changes you. (2) Sasuke had his Sharingan active, making everything seem slower. (3) Sasuke is familiar with the style of the Assassin's because he spars with Naruto all the time. This character is the equivalent of the canon Sasuke, arrogant. Also, there will be more security measures, and something that makes the Konoha ninja prove their worth. Happy Fourth of July everybody! Let me know what you think. **_


	17. Prove Your Worth

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

-Chapter Seventeen: Prove your worth-

Naruto woke up the next morning, and decided he'd go to find his old training partner, Al-Ramiz was bound to be at their old training grounds, which required one climb a steep hill first. When he topped the hill, he saw Al-Ramiz with Al-Tair, they were training in hand to hand combat. Naruto stood and watched as his old training partner fought against his old teacher. When they finished the round, meaning that Al-Ramiz had his face buried in the dirt, Naruto walked over, and got the attention of his friends.

"Naruto! How long have you been back?" Al-Ramiz shouted, he was very friendly around the right people.

"I got here yesterday with my team from Konoha."

"They're letting ninja in now?"

"Only a few for now." Al-Tair came over to the two teenagers. "Though we may be allowing more in. Say Al-Ramiz, how would you like to fight one of them?" Al-Tair was referring to Sasuke.

"Is he good Naruto?"

"The best of our generation. He matched Al-Kahil no problem, I told him you'd give him a run for his money."

"What's his name?"

"Uchiha Sasuke."

"I'll do it. When?" Al-Ramiz turned to his teacher.

"We can go do it now if you'd like." Al-Tair told him, Al-Ramiz nodded, hoping to get a crack at person Naruto said was strong.

When they arrived at the Head Assassin's mansion, they found Sasuke fighting one of the older assassins, and beating him. Sasuke was a force to be reckoned with. Al-Ramiz watched how he handled the katana in his hand, pushing back the assassin man back, and then striking when a spot opened in the defense. Eventually the man put a hand up in defeat.

"Sasuke, you fight like that and you'll be a one man army." Naruto said as Sasuke smirked and deactivated his Sharingan. "Al-Ramiz, this is the one you're fighting." Naruto saw Al-Ramiz visibly pale, but he also grinned insanely, The young assassin trainee was always looking for a challenge. He walked over to the pit and jumped the fence into the pit. He was taller than Sasuke, but he was of a lean build, not heavily built like Al-Kahil, but strong nonetheless. Sasuke sheathed his sword, and slid his left foot forward. Naruto began chuckling, Al-Tair asked what was so funny.

"Sasuke has been reading about the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryu, a style used by an ancient samurai, and it was said to be the best of the best.(1)" Naruto had thousands of books on kenjutsu.

"And what is so important about that style?"

"The move he's about to use now is called Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki(2), it utilizes the speed of the style, and an off-sided start and finish in order to give the battou jutsu more power. Also it creates a temporary vacuum, sucking the person sucked in and freezing them in place, while the used comes in for a second blow." Naruto watched as Sasuke launched off his left foot, and drew the blade, Al-Ramiz managed to get his blade up fast enough, but he couldn't move back as Sasuke came in with a second, more powerful blow, this one he couldn't block and took the full blow, which knocked him back and broke a rib. Al-Ramiz stood and attacked, assaulting Sasuke with a barrage of blows which Sasuke dodged, blocked or parried. The two traded blows, Sasuke getting the most, but Al-Ramiz got a few. Eventually Sasuke drew his knife, and attacked, Sasuke ultimately won the battle, but Al-Ramiz had given him a great fight, especially with a broken rib.

"I've never seen someone so skilled with a blade. And your eyes help I assume?"

"They do, it allows me to see everything at a slower pace, and due to my speed I can react faster than they can attack." Sasuke told the assassin trainee how he could fight so well.

"So Naruto, I have yet to gauge how much you've improved. Let's see it." Al-Tair turned to his former student, and they stepped into the ring. Al-Tair drew his sword, the traditional Assassin's hand and a half sword, the same style of blade Naruto had before. Naruto drew his Chokuto, his sword of choice, and smirked, he'd get to test it out against someone of real skill. Naruto assumed a neutral forward stance. Al-Tair came in with a thrust, Naruto dodged the thrust, and attacked to Al-Tair's left, and had his blade knocked aside, the Namikaze dropped and with a kick to the calf he sent Al-Tair off balance. He came in fast and hard, trying to use this to his advantage, but Al-Tair's ability to move away from blades was a bit of a legend itself. Naruto came in with a palm strike, but he was beaten to it as he felt the powerful palm hit him in the chest, he felt his wind leave him and then his feet left the ground and he landed against the fence of the pit.

"You're definitely faster than before Naruto, but you have a lot of improvement." Al-Tair smirked, Naruto got up and gripped his sword tighter, readying himself to attack. When he did, he attacked faster than he'd ever before attacked, and came down with more power, causing the older assassin to actually have to block instead of dodge, He then took Al-Tair by the wrist, and threw him with an over the shoulder throw, Al-Tair rolled to his feet, also dodging a blade that nearly came down upon him. Naruto ducked a blade, but that led him straight into a shin kick to the head. Naruto lost consciousness. Al-Tair picked up the boy and his sword, and took them outside the pit.

"I've never seen Naruto get his ass kicked so badly." Sasuke looked at his teammate.

"He's taken worse, trust me. But he has improved a great deal. I doubt you could even close to match him Al-Ramiz, I did have a problem keeping up with him at times." Sasuke was surprised to hear that Al-Tair was saying this, he hadn't even seen Naruto use anything other than the sword. Naruto sat up, his head throbbing.

"I got kicked in the head again didn't I?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah, how'd you know?" Sasuke asked.

"Because only a kick in the head by Siid has ever knocked me out." Naruto replied. He stood up, sheathed his sword and leaned against the fenced in pit.

"You took that full force on the side of the head, I'm surprised you didn't get a concussion." Al-Ramiz said, laughing slightly. "I was out for a week when I tried that maneuver."

"I've always gotten it down against others, though I suppose there's a reason you're the Head Assassin huh Siid?" Naruto looked over at his teacher.

"It's because Al-Asad saw fit for me to be his successor, but I suppose that's because I've the most field experience out of any of his students. How are things in Konoha? What's the damage after the battle with the other villages?"

"One section of the wall was broken, some of the arena is destroyed, but not too much overall, about three million ryou in damage, much less than it could have been." Naruto explained.

"I see, well if we can do anything here, then just ask. It would be a measure of good faith for the soon to be formed alliance." Al-Tair wanted the alliance to last between the two countries.

"I'm only moderately informed on the situation, but I'm sure Sasuke would like to learn some of our skills here." Naruto looked at his friend's eyes light up.

"I'll see to it personally, but remember Naruto, he proved his worth in the pit, the Haruno girl will have to prove hers if she wants to train with us." Al-Tair said sternly to the boy.

"I'll talk to her, see if she wants to." Naruto turned and went in search of Sakura.

He found his other teammate looking through the texts in the library of the Head Assassin's office under close eye of the guards. Naruto nodded to them and walked over to her.

"Hey. You know you're supposed to be an assassin to look at those." Naruto said, making her jump, until she realized who it was.

"Naruto you jerk! You scared me!" she laughed immediately after.

"So, Al-Tair says that if you want to come train with the assassins you've got to prove your worth. He had Sasuke fight the guy from yesterday, Al-Kahil, I got knocked out by him today, now it's your turn to prove yourself in the pit." Naruto said. She looked down at the ninja-to sitting next to her.

"I hardly know how to use a sword Naruto, I couldn't fight one of these assassins here."

"You fought in war less than a month ago, you've killed with that sword, it's something that doesn't go away, that instinct. Have more confidence in yourself Sakura." Naruto smiled at the girl. "I'll show you something after you fight, it's a great place, you can see the entire city."

"So I've just got to beat one of them in taijutsu?"

"Yeah, no jutsu, no chakra, just steel and body." Naruto explained. Sakura had made up her mind, and stood up. She put the books back, not wanting to be rude, and then they went to the pit.

Sasuke had already began training with Al-Tair.

"Siid, she's here, give her some ass to kick." Sakura laughed at the comment, something totally unusual from his calm, serious character.

"I'll have Yuri come up, he's Al-Ramiz' new partner." Al-Tair sent his student out to get his other student. After about fifteen minutes, Al-Ramiz and another boy came back.

"So this is the ninja I'm fighting?" Yuri asked, looking over the girl in the red.

"Yeah, I'm the one." Sakura drew her sword and stepped into the pit. Sakura held the sword in a similar style to Naruto, but she stood in a slightly more forward stance. She had her tanto in her left hand, ready to use that as well. Yuri attacked first, Sakura dodged, and struck with her knife and sword at the same time. She jumped back when the offensive nature of the attack surprised him. Trying to come in again, she blocked this time with her sword, and kicked him in the side of the knee, Yuri decided to try for a palm strike, but Sakura blocked it with the back of her forearm, and struck with the pommel of her tanto into his chin. Seeing that Yuri was slower, but stronger, she decided to use that to her advantage. When he swung horizontally, she would dodge or block vertically, and strike with smaller blows to wear him down.

The problem with this however was that Sakura had less endurance than her male teammates, so she began wearing down, and taking more hits. Finally Sakura sheathed her knife, deciding to go for a 'killing' blow. When Yuri attacked from the left with a back-edged strike, Sakura blocked holding the sword in both hands, and with lightning speed, struck her opponent in the throat with a knife hand strike, causing him to drop his sword, she did the same, and took her other hand, planting it firmly into his chin, and taking him all the way to the ground with a palm strike to the chin. She felt him try to move and drew her tanto, pressing it's dulled blade to his throat.

"Dead." She stood up, sheathing her blade, and offering a hand to her beaten opponent. Yuri however decided to try and attack, but was stopped when Naruto's arm blade was pointed at his throat, the blonde's other hand on the boy's arm.

"Careful what you do Yuri, it might get you killed." Naruto said in the voice that he reserved for people who angered him. Naruto had jumped the fence, extended the blade and disarmed the boy in a flash of movement.

"Yuri!" Al-Tair shouted. "I'm ashamed you'd try to attack a person who's trying to help you up! Even though she beat you, that is no reason to attempt to attack her. I'd have let Naruto kill you if he hadn't shown such restraint." Al-Tair was silently thanking Naruto that he didn't kill him however.

"I apologize Haruno, I was out of line." Yuri apologized as Naruto backed away.

"You've proven your worth, all of you. I'll grant you full use of all our training materials. Naruto, you and Kakashi have done well with these two, I'm proud of you." Al-Tair turned as a man ran into the tower yard.

"Al-Tair! Masyaf is under attack!" The man shouted.

-Chapter Seventeen: End-

_**Author's Note: Yeah, another cliffhanger. To some it may seem that the assassins are getting the royal be-Jesus kicked out of them by Team Seven, but these are only trainees they're fighting, with the exception of the man Sasuke fought, but his Sharingan does give him an upper hand. **_

_**Naruto fought Al-Tair, who is the H.A. for a reason,kicks in the head suck. Sakura never really got a chance to show off her skills, so here I wanted to put in some of them. Eighteen will be the invasion of Masyaf. R&R please, They give me insight on what I need to improve.**_


	18. The Battle for Masyaf

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, and the like._

-Chapter Eighteen: The Battle for Masyaf-

Naruto ran with Al-Tair, as an assassin he was to immediately go to the front lines.

"Stay inside the city, guard the civilians." Naruto told Sasuke and Sakura.

"But Naruto-"

"DO WHAT I SAY!" Naruto shouted, leaving no room for argument. He turned to Sakura. "Sakura, in case I don't come back, I want you to know something." Sakura was about to ask what when Naruto's lips covered hers, and just for a few moments her world stood still. After that he turned around and ran after his master. Sakura stood there for a moment, blushing.

_"Did that actually just happen?"_ Sakura thought, and confirmed it by looking at Sasuke who had a look of utter shock on his face.

"Let's help the guards get the civilians into the shelters." Sakura said, trying to regain some shred of focus back. They met up with a pair of guards, who were splitting up, both ninja went separate ways with the guards, filing civilians into shelter houses. Sakura and the guard she was with were moving to find more people to move when they were faced by enemies.

"These are Kiri-nin, they're known for their sword and blade skills, be careful." Sakura said to the guard.

"Thanks, my name is Saddam(1), what is yours?" Saddam asked.

"Sakura, now let's kill these bastards." Sakura drew her sword. Saddam did as well.

Sasuke had also encountered mist ninja, he informed the guard as well, but the man seemed more of the reserved type. They attacked, Sasuke armed with his family's doujutsu, and struck the guards down quickly. They then went in search of more civilians.

Naruto, Al-Tair, and Al-Ramiz were standing on the city wall, looking around at the soldiers.

"Siid, these are mist ninja, I encountered one a few months back, and are considered strong in sword arts, I'd take them out long range when possible." Naruto informed his master of the threat.

"Then we'll do that. Al-Ramiz! I want you to tell the archers and guards to kill these enemies from the walls, do it quick." the young man nodded and ran off to give orders. "What should we do then Naruto?"

"I'd say find their leader, kill him, but also kill as many of the foot soldiers as possible, these ninja aren't the kind to stop because their leader's dead."

"Then that's what we'll do. You see the water down there?" Al-Tair pointed to the small river that ran through the middle of the city.

"Yes."

"We need to cut that off. If these are mist ninja then they likely have water based arts, making that river their strongest ally, but also their weakness here in this desert like terrain, go to the northwest wall and pull down the cutoff hatch, and then kill as many as you can with your long range skills."

"What are you going to do?"

"I need to get back to the library and make sure that our texts stay there."

"Yes sir." Naruto began running along the top of the wall, firing down at enemies every fifty feet or so. Finally he reached the area where the river lead into the city, and jumped down, he found the large metal hatch and moved it down over the steel grate that allowed the water in, but kept people out. The water stopped flowing into the city and flowed along an open trench that was made just for this purpose. The water inside still flowed, and most was out of the city within the hour. Naruto began his next assignment.

All of the civilians had been ushered into the shelter with minimal casualties, and Sakura was now going about with sword, tanto and jutsu killing any who dared stand in her way. That continued until she saw a man carrying a large sword, he walked up to her calmly.

"Now what would a Konoha ninja be doing here in Masyaf where ninja aren't allowed?" The man asked. He was tall and muscular, wearing a sleeveless black shirt, black pants, and had swaths of bandages around his face and neck.

"I'm not authorized to share that information, now step aside or you'll be killed." Sakura held her sword in front of her.

"Oh? And I assume you'll be the one to kill me? I'm afraid my manners have failed me, allow me to introduce myself. I am Momochi Zabuza, demon of the mist, one of the Seven shinobi swordsman of the mist." Zabuza pulled his sword off his back, and turned to counter the blade of another ninja.

"So the copy ninja is here as well?"

"Why are you attacking Masyaf?"

"Well, that concerns a rumor I've been hearing. This rumor has to do with an alliance between Masyaf and Konoha. So, being the caring man that I am, I rounded up the mist seven, or six I should say, I heard Kisame was killed by a mere boy. Anyway, so I rounded them and a sizeable chunk of the Mist forces, and set out here to attack Masyaf. Can't have you two joining up I'm afraid." Zabuza attacked Kakashi, but had to stop another attacker yet again, this one was Uchiha Sasuke.

Naruto had been atop the wall when he saw the clash between his three teammates and the man wielding the large cleaver like sword. He fired arrows into the crowd of ninja, killing them off alongside the other archers of the city, and then ran out of arrows. He looked around, searching for ladders, but found none, so he turned to his next option. He jumped from the wall, falling headlong into a huge cart of straw, jumping out he killed a man from behind, and then another, finally the mist ninja realized their men were dying.

"Curious, a ninja who is also an assassin. You must be where the rumors are stemming from." A man said, carrying two short, straight blades.

"What do you want in Masyaf?"

"Me? I want to kill, but my good friend Momochi Zabuza wants to prevent some sort of alliance between Konoha and the Assassins."

"He's going to fail, we outnumber your forces four to one."

"This is where we thrive! Outnumbered and out powered, we will burn this city to the ground!" The man was interrupted when a single straight Chokuto came bearing down on him, he put up one blade, and knocked it aside, taking the back of the other one under Naruto's wrist he grabbed the boy's hand and wrenched his sword up and disarmed him.

"You see boy, I'm one of the Seven shinobi swordsman of the mist. We're the best swordsman in the world! We've collaborated the best swords, the best styles and joined into one group. I use a twin sword style called Kali(2), and I'll kill you with these blades." He picked up Naruto's sword, and tossed it back to him. "Any of you who interfere will be killed. I want to see just how strong this boy is." The ninja said. "My name is Tachi Niban, I thought you should know the name of the one to kill you."

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, I thought you should know who's going to slaughter the mist army." Naruto took his sword in his hand, and with a lunge was on the man in a second, this time when he tried to counter like last time, Naruto caught the man's hand and kicked his right knee in, breaking it. The ninja screamed in pain, but stood anyway, he tried to attack, but Naruto kicked the same knee, causing a wave of pain. Naruto bore down with his sword, striking again and again, and finally when an opening appeared he took it with his arm blade and killed the man. Naruto then realized he was surrounded by mist ninjas, he made several dozen clones very quickly and fought them off.

Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi were having a hard time fighting off Zabuza, the man was too fast with that large blade. Suddenly an arrow came down from a building, striking the demon of the mist in the left shoulder.

"I thought you could use some help." Naruto stood on the roof of a building holding his crossbow, and had more arrows from a fallen comrade.

"You little bastard! I'll kill you!" Zabuza screamed.

"That's what that Niban guy said before I killed him." Zabuza's face was a mask of surprise.

"You killed Tachi Niban? Impossible!"

"No, I can show you where it happened if you want, but I can't have you harming my precious people." Naruto jumped down, drawing his sword. "I can take this guy, Sasuke, Sakura, Al-Tair is at the library, go help him, he needs it." both nodded. "Kakashi, you stay here in case I'm in over my head." Naruto dashed forward, his sword clashing with the bigger man's sword, he drew his knife and slashed the quadrilaterals of the larger man's left leg, disabling him.

"So, you used underhanded tactics like this? That is why you were able to kill him. Very well, I'll fight you until I am killed or bleed out." Zabuza punched Naruto away, setting his sword over his shoulder, he jumped off his right leg, slower than normal, but still quite fast, and attacked. Naruto could barely fend off the massive blade, and had to use both hands, but did it anyway. Naruto tried the same tactic of kicking the wounded leg, but Zabuza stood anyway, his adrenaline preventing him from feeling the pain. Naruto jumped away before the knife in Zabuza's off hand nearly impaled him, but then had to block the large sword, this time his strength gave way and Naruto suffered a cut across his left arm. Naruto removed a piece of bandage from his pouch.

"If you want to wrap yourself up, then do it, at least allow me to."

"So be it." Zabuza cut away some of the bandage wrapped around his neck, and wrapped it around his leg. When he tied it off, he then looked to Naruto who had also tied off his injury and held his sword up, ready. Zabuza took the offensive this time, Naruto ducked the massive blade, took the knee to his chin, all in order to plant the arm blade into Zabuza's side, driving it between two ribs.

"I'm sorry Zabuza, but you're too good of a swordsman for me to fight fair."

"That's okay kid… It'll keep you alive, fighting like that." Zabuza said that as he collapsed dead. Naruto said a prayer in Arabic, one taught among the Assassins to a god called Allah. Then Naruto and Kakashi set off, heading towards the central tower of the city. When they arrived, they rushed immediately into the fray, killing the mist ninja that were fighting to gain entrance. A man carrying a katana attacked Kakashi, who blocked with a sword he'd picked up off a dead mist ninja.

"The copy ninja, a truly great opportunity." The man pushed off with his katana, stepping back. "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Michirama Kojima, one of the seven shinobi swordsman of the mist."

"Get to the tower Naruto, I want to take this one." Kakashi unsheathed the ninja-to, assuming a stance.

"So the copy nin will be fighting solo. Okay then, I'll make it quick and kill your friend." Kojima sheathed his blade, turned it down and assumed a modified battou stance. Kakashi charged, stepping left at the last second to avoid the blade, and with his momentum elbowed the man in the ribs. Kojima brought his blade down, but Kakashi dodged again, and struck again with another body blow, backing out again. "Sit still you damned rat!" Kojima shouted, swinging his blade, trying to hit Kakashi, who kept up his hit and run tactics. Finally Kakashi blocked the blade, taking Kojima by the wrist, and jammed the ninja-to deep into his chest, and out his back, killing the man instantly.

"Three down, three to go." Kakashi was unaware of the events that were transpiring inside the tower.

Al-Tair was facing a truly unusual sight for his people. A female swordsman, He had encountered her inside the tower when he'd arrived, striking down soldiers.

"So, another has come to challenge me." She said.

"Why have you people come?"

"As a whole, we came to stop the rumored alliance, our explosives specialists got through your wall pretty easily. As one of the Seven swordsman, I came to kill." She giggled, "My name is Matsura Yuki, and I've come here to kill you." She looked at the assassin curiously. "And what may I call my next victim?"

"Al-Tair Ibn La'Ahad. Though you will be calling me death dealer by the end of this, not victim." Al-Tair drew his sword. The sword Yuki was using was a Chinese Gim, a long double edged straight sword. She attacked with efficient strokes, but Al-Tair was much older and more experienced, for she couldn't have been more than twenty five. Al-Tair dodged each stroke of the blade easily, but was knocked back by an unexpected palm strike, and had to block a backstroke.

Al-Tair attacked, knocking the sword aside, only to have it flow into an attack which he narrowly dodged. Yuki finally tried for a thrust, Al-Tair caught the blade between his side and arm, his much bigger and more powerful frame resisted any attempts of Yuki to retrieve the blade.

"Any last words Matsuda Yuki?" Al-Tair asked, raising his arm blades.

"Surprise!" Yuki pulled a small push dagger from her wrist band, but was not fast enough to use it, Al-Tair struck with the killing blow, putting his blade through her throat.

"So that makes it four down." Kakashi said as he saw the woman fall.

"Reports indicate that most of the offensive force retreated or died trying when they realized the river had been cut off." A man had come in and told him earlier of the situation.

"Who killed the other three?" Al-Tair asked.

"Naruto killed two, Tachi Niban and Momochi Zabuza. I killed one, Michirama Kojima." Kakashi said, knowing the value this information would have. Just then three men came in, two archers and a guard.

"Sir! They're retreating! The death of the Seven swordsman has caused them to lose morale!" Naruto smiled, it was inevitable that if he and Kakashi could kill three, then the assassins could kill two.

"It seems we've won this battle, you guys played a big part." Al-Tair congratulated them all.

With the help of many hundreds of Naruto's clones, the hole in the wall was sealed up, only until the supplies could be gathered to repair it permanently. The many assassins who'd doubted the ninja's prowess in combat did no such thing now as word of every one of the four ninja killing at least fifty enemy ninja spread.

Team Seven now stood in front of the banquet of generals as it was called. Naruto with his hood down, he'd chosen to wear his traditional garb inside the city, since very few would recognize him as assassin otherwise.

"Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto, for your courage and fighting ability in the battle today, we award you a medal of honor." Al-Tair hung the medal around Naruto's neck.

"Thank you Siid." Naruto bowed. He came upon Sakura.

"Haruno Sakura, for fighting our battle, saving the lives of countless citizens, and showing the skill you did, we award you the title of honorary assassin." Al-Tair took her right hand, and with muttered words of Arabic, the seal of the assassin appeared on the back of her hand.

"Thank you Siid." Sakura thought it appropriate to call him by the Arabic term, as she was now going to be treated as an assassin.

"Uchiha Sasuke, for showing courage, fighting when you could have run, and displaying skill of both sword and knife, we award you the title of honorary assassin." Al-Tair also placed the seal of the assassin on his hand.

"Thank you Siid." Sasuke followed the suit of his two teammates.

"Hatake Kakashi, You've proven your worth to me before, and now you've fought for my nation. For this, we award you the title of honorary assassin." Kakashi removed his glove, and accepted the seal.

"Thanks Al-Tair. Say, next time we should play 'who's the better killer.' What do you say?" Al-Tair laughed.

"We'll see. You all have full access to all our texts and training methods. You must also however, accept the code of our brotherhood. First, you never compromise the brotherhood. Second, Hide in plain sight to mask your intent, and third, your blade must never touch the flesh of an innocent." Al-Tair explained. The generals and lead assassins all cheered.

"Sakura, I have somewhere I want to show you." Naruto turned to Sakura. He looked to Al-Tair, who nodded. "Come on." He led her.

Sakura followed, unsure of what to expect. Suddenly they came to a massive cliff.

"I hope you're not too tired for a little rock climbing." Naruto started up the wall, Sakura followed behind him. They reached the top of the plateau, where Naruto used to train. The sun was setting.

"This place is…beautiful." Sakura said, almost coming to tears at the sight of the valley below, the forests on one side, and the fading sunlight dancing over it all.

"I thought you might like it Sakura. This is something I've wanted to show you for a long time." Naruto paused. "For a while now, I've been having these feelings, and to make the long story short, Sakura, I'm falling in love with you." Naruto saw the tears that were once threatening to fall come full force now. Sakura said nothing, but instead embraced Naruto and gave him a passionate kiss.

-Chapter Eighteen: End-

(1) The name Saddam is common in Middle eastern culture. I was worried about putting this name in because it may be a rather sore spot for some people.

(2) Kali: Kali is a type of Filipino stick and knife fighting, it's known for it's fast and brutal strikes and counters.

(3) Tachi Niban literally means sword number two.

_**Author's note: Well, that's it, the attack on Masyaf, and at least a little bit of a NaruSaku scene. Naruto makes a prayer to Allah, the Muslim God, because the group that the Brotherhood was based on was a group of Shia Muslims. While I don't know too much about Islam, I know that they pray to Allah. My two bases of religious knowledge of religion are Christianity and Buddhism, not a whole lot in between. Well, any questions, comments, useful bits of knowledge that you have to give me, can be put in the form of a review. Oh and if someone could help me in the way of romance scenes, I'd greatly appreciate it. I want to write some, but I have no real idea how. Well, that's it, thanks for reading.**_


	19. The Alliance

I don't Own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is Supernatural speech**

_Italics are Thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

-Chapter Nineteen: The Alliance-

Two weeks had passed since the failed attack on Masyaf, word had quickly spread of the battle. The word of it had reached Tsunade's ears far south in Konoha, the word of how four ninja from Konoha helped defeat the mist force, killing half of the Seven swordsmen in the process. She had also learned that because of this, Masyaf wanted to begin an alliance between Konoha, reaching out to the ninja world in a way that was never heard of before.

Naruto was currently walking through the city, looking for somewhere to eat. He ended up stopping at a place that he remembered served really good pancakes. He ordered a massive stack and ate in silence, ignoring the looks of all of the surrounding people.

"Excuse me, but are you Uzumaki Naruto?" A young girl walked up, no older than ten.

"Yes I am."

"You saved my daddy in that battle two weeks ago." The girl bowed low before turning around and running over to the man he assumed was her father. He shrugged and went back to his pancakes. When he finished he paid and left, searching for Sasuke to spar a little. He had failed to find his first option for a training partner, but did find Sakura.

"Hey Sakura." He had found her in the library yet again. She stood up and hugged him.

"Hey Naruto, how are you?"

"Good, I had some pancakes for breakfast, and a good walk." He turned his head to the window. "People are treating us like heroes here, I only got charged half price for my breakfast. I had fifteen large pancakes."

"We ARE heroes here Naruto, we saved thousands of lives. Especially you and Kakashi who killed some of the Mist Swordsmen." Sakura was surprised to see Naruto was nearly on par with Kakashi. His power was growing fast.

"So, you want to go do some training?" Naruto asked.

"Sure, let me put these back." She pointed at the stack of books.

They were back atop the plateau, facing each other with swords drawn. Naruto made the first move, an upward slash, Sakura parried it expertly, he could see the difference that combat had made. Her movements were tighter, less hesitant and stronger. They continued their sparring for nearly half an hour before Naruto decided to up his game and as he blocked the blade, stepped in and took her by the wrist. Sakura felt the wrist lock being applied and whipped her fist into Naruto's ribs. Naruto felt it, the blow staggered him.

"That was powerful!" Naruto had obviously taken harder, but it was a hard blow. Naruto decided he wanted to do hand to hand, so he sheathed his sword and put his hands up. Sakura got the clue, she moved in to make a kick to Naruto's head. "Only Al-Tair can succeed with that one. And maybe Kakashi." Naruto ducked and kicked her leg, knocking it out, he took her other leg and pushed her up, knocking her on her back. When she stood up, she assumed a fighting stance again, but it was different. She had her arms farther up, guarding her face, her elbows were tucked in, and her chin was kept in closer than normal to her body.

"A peculiar stance there."

"It's from an older style called boxing. I can't kick as hard or fast as you or Sasuke, but I can definitely punch hard." Sakura came for a straight punch with her right hand. "You didn't think I was looking at cookbooks all day did you?" She laughed, Naruto dodged the fist, but then she jabbed with her left, hitting him solidly in the jaw. He'd never had any extensive hand to hand sparring with her, so he never really knew how hard she could punch.

Naruto was continually assaulted by a barrage of strong and fast punches, he blocked or dodged most, until finally one uppercut hit him right on the point of the chin, he then felt another on his left temple, and then darkness.

Sakura panicked, she saw Naruto hit the ground and was worried she'd hit him too hard. She picked up his head, and slapped his cheek softly, trying to get a reaction.

"Naruto! Wake up." She said, worried. Naruto groaned, shaking his head.

"What hit me?" He asked.

"I did. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit you so hard, you idiot, you're supposed to defend yourself." She hugged him.

"That makes you the first person other than Al-Tair to knock me out." Naruto sat up, shaking his head. "It's true what they say, you never see the one that knocks you out." He stood up. "I think that's enough sparring today." Naruto cracked his neck, rubbing his chin. Suddenly a thought occurred to him.

"Sakura, what exactly are we to each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean ever since the night of the invasion, we've known each other's feelings, but we never really acted on them."

"Oh…I don't know though. I mean I had assumed it would go without saying, but I guess it's up to you."

"Okay then. Sakura, I want to be your boyfriend. Will you be my girlfriend?" Sakura blushed, she'd known he was blunt, but this was still unexpected. She just nodded and kissed him.

"Well, this is certainly a development." Came the voice of Kakashi. Both jumped, and looked at the older man. "I hope you didn't come all this way to just kiss." Kakashi said.

"No, we were training." Naruto rubbed his chin again.

"Looks like she slugged you good." Kakashi noted the forming bruise on his chin.

"Boxing… it hurts." Naruto muttered. Kakashi looked at his student.

"So, you didn't come up here to do anything bad?"

"You're one to talk Kakashi, you and Anko. Don't think I don't know what you were doing." Kakashi's single visible eye shot open.

"WHAT?!" Sakura yelled. Looking at her teacher.

"What I do in the privacy of my house is none of your concern." Kakashi said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Make sure she's dressed before she answers then." Sakura heard that, and walked up to her teacher.

"Hatake…" She cracked her knuckles. "YOU PERVERT!" she yelled as she punched him in the face in a very Tsunade like manner. Little did Naruto know, Sakura was hoping to be trained by that very woman.

"You didn't have to punch him." Naruto rubbed the back of his head.

"But he's going around and doing…_that_ with other ninja, and not even telling her to dress before she answers the door."

"In her defense she did have a blanket covering her." Naruto looked over the cliff to see an unconscious Kakashi lying in a heap at the bottom. "That was a good hit though." Naruto said to himself.

"I suppose it was a little over the top." She shrugged. "What's done can't be undone."

"Let's go tell Al-Tair that someone has managed what only he's accomplished before, and that you knocked Kakashi out." Naruto laughed.

They jumped from the cliff, landing at the bottom they made it into a race to the tower.

"Good, I was just going to look for you." Al-Tair was at the entrance to the tower garden.

"Sakura got into the library, and learned how to box." Naruto pointed to the bruise on his chin. "She's got a mean uppercut. Knocked me out. Kakashi too."

"Why'd you knock out Kakashi?"

"He's a pervert." Sakura said, scowling.

"Yeah he is. He's been reading that damn Icha Icha series since he was sixteen." Al-Tair said. "I suppose even the best warriors have vices."

"But he reads it so much!"

"Yeah, but I suppose it's better than having an alcoholic Kakashi. That man is mean when he's drunk." Al-Tair remembered a time when they were drinking together and it had resulted in Kakashi trying to fight him, and falling down some stairs.

"I can imagine, I've seen some mean drunks, and Kakashi is definitely strong enough to be one."

"Anyway, Naruto, I've got the terms of the alliance written up, since you guys are going to be leaving in two days, I wanted to have you look it over, see if there's anything that's missing." Al-Tair had him come into the office, Sakura followed along, marveling at the birds, the books and the weapons that were all sitting in the office. On the desk was a picture of Al-Asad, The Fourth, and Kakashi. Naruto looked over the alliance, it read.

_"The alliance between Konoha is to be as follows:_

_No ninja of the land of fire, or any assassin of Masyaf, under any condition make any ill-intentioned attack on any of the opposing party, they shall only do combat for the betterment or comparison of skill of each other. Ninja from the Konohagakure no Sato shall periodically be sent to Masyaf to confirm the well being of the city, and the assassins of Masyaf shall periodically be sent to Konohagakure no sato in order to confirm the well being of the village. Ninja and assassin will be sent on missions with each other, and will receive pay equal to that of a ninja or assassin would receive for the mission they are sent on. Ninja are allowed to access all texts and files classified up to A-Class, and Assassins are allowed access to all texts and files up to A-Class. Both nations are required to participate in any wars in which the assistance of the other is asked. The Alliance will last until one of three things happen. The first would be until one of the nations fall. The second would be that the leader of either nation deems the leader of the other unfit to lead, and thus the alliance will be ended. The third is if the ninja of Konohagakure no sato or the Assassins of Masyaf show any ill-will to any of the other party. The Alliance requires the signature of both leaders._

_(Al-Tair Ibn La'Ahad)_

_Signed-"_

Naruto read over it twice, and a third time, and finally rolled it back up.

"It looks good, seems like you covered most things an alliance should cover. I'll take this back to Tsunade if this is the copy to be sent."

"I'll have to write up another one so both nations have a copy." Al-Tair accepted the paper.

"Okay, I'm going to go and gather my stuff up, to make ready for departure in two days." Naruto then went to his room, it was four o'clock by this time, and dinner was in two hours.

Naruto was in his room, when he heard a knock at the door.

"It's open." Sakura walked in, looking over the room, it was just like hers.

"Naruto… Do you ever have nightmares? After doing the things we've done, do you see their faces? I do, and I hate it."

"I do as well, it's something that never goes away, but you never get used to it either."

"Do you think I could stay here for the last two days? That way if one of us has a nightmare, the other is here to bring comfort." Naruto turned around, walking over to the girl.

"I wouldn't mind it. You know my birthday is coming up soon? Three months away."

"You were born in October? That makes me nearly a whole seven months older than you." Sakura looked up at the assassin.

"I guess that's just how it is. I look older though." He pulled his hitai-ate off his head. "I was thinking about growing my hair out, you know like my dad?" Naruto knew she'd never really seen Minato face to face, but she'd seen his face on the Hokage mountain. Naruto had only seen pictures in the house, and the one on Al-Tair's desk.

"I think it would look good. Just promise me you won't grow it too long."

"I don't want it too long, just long enough that I have some hair." Naruto rubbed his scalp feeling the stubble of his growing hair. "It shouldn't take too long." Naruto smiled. They spent the rest of the day wandering the town looking for Sasuke.

-Two days later-

Team Seven left Masyaf after breakfast, allowing them substantial travel time on the first day. They said their goodbyes and finally set off. Travel was slightly faster due to the amount of training that had happened during their stay. When they made camp the for the first day they made a simple campfire and set the three tents around the site.

"It looks like it's going to rain Naruto, you can't just sleep outside like you usually do." Sakura looked up at the clouds. Kakashi and Sasuke were both looking for water.

"I'll make a shelter." Naruto was about to make some clones to gather supplies.

"I was offering to let you stay in my tent tonight." Naruto looked at her.

"I'm fine with the shelter."

"You're my boyfriend now Naruto, you're allowed to share a tent with me. Just so long as you don't try anything." the Haruno pointed an accusing finger at him.

"I won't. But do you think that the Kakashi and Sasuke will wonder what's up?"

"That's their problem." Naruto heard a sound and held up a hand. Slowly he drew his crossbow. Firing in the direction of the noise he heard nothing. Then someone came from the trees nearby.

"Hi, I'm Arisawa Tatsuki, and I'm going to have to ask you to come with me." She wore a black cloak with red clouds.

-Chapter Nineteen: End-

_**Author's Note: The whole idea behind this chapter was to do a little more relationship development, get the alliance out on the table, and introduce our new friend. Arisawa Tatsuki is a name I borrowed from Bleach. I've had quite a bit of writer's block lately. Work hasn't helped much, but anyway, I'll hopefully get the next chapter of Swords up, and I'll say you're going to be surprised by how it's turned out, though it's likely someone will not be pleased, It's part of my story, so it's important. Well, until next time.**_


	20. Fort Akatsuki

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. I wish I did, but wishing only gets one so far.

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

_**Author's Note: Serious Spoiler alert! If you haven't read chapter 398 and beyond in the Naruto series, be prepared for serious spoiler action.**_

-Chapter Twenty: Fort Akatsuki-

Naruto woke up on a cold hard floor, Sakura was huddled next to him. He remembered now what had happened. He'd been captured by the Akatsuki.

_"Hi, I'm Arisawa Tatsuki and I need you to come with me." The woman looked much like many other ninja, dark hair and fair skin, she also had the insane grin many of them wore._

_"Sorry, but I'm waiting for someone." Naruto said, that's when she flew into action. Naruto blocked the first kick, but was surprised at the next move._

_Tatsuki jumped and kicked Naruto in the head with her other foot. Staggering back he said to Sakura._

_"Don't get involved here." Naruto drew his knife, each stroke was dodged expertly, a quick strike came after each dodge. "What style is this?"_

_"It's called Mushin no Shin Ryu Kempo." Tatsuki kicked him in the body taking his wind from him. Then his world faded to black._

Then he woke up here, dressed only in his black pants, boots and undershirt, a simple black tank that hugged his body closely. They'd taken all his weapons and tools as well.

He woke up Sakura, she'd lost all her weaponry as well, but she needed none of it, she had her fists.

"We need to find my sword and escape." Naruto was sitting in a meditative position. He opened his eyes and then said. "I know where it is, our gear is likely there too." Naruto then focused chakra, said words in Arabic and had a knife.

"I remember you told me about that, the last ditch knife." It was a simple knife, a straight blade with a spear point, a black handle and a black blade, it was about ten inches overall.

"We need to be quick, and kill anyone we see, if they get in the way, we need to take them out." Naruto looked for the hinges, but found the door opened outward, and the hinges were outside the cell, a smart choice for a cell holding ninja. They heard keys outside the door, and the door began opening, Naruto stood, ready to kill the person who came through. What he saw totally surprised him.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here, my brother is waiting a few kilometers off." Itachi was standing there with their stuff. They took it quickly, and Naruto took his sword.

"Talk, why are you helping us."

"I'll explain later, for now we have to move." Itachi turned around and they made off.

They ran through the complex, they noticed no guards, as Itachi explained that he'd faked an attack on the opposite side of the complex and all the guards were drawn that way, even the main members were sent that way.

They went to exit the complex but were stopped by a familiar face.

"You know Pain's not gonna like that you're playing double agent here." Tatsuki smiled. "But I was never much one for ratting others out, so if you can make it past me I'll let you go." Tatsuki took no stance, just stood, hands at her waist level, feet slightly less than shoulder width apart. Naruto drew his sword and knife, Sakura took her boxing stance, and Itachi produced his ANBU sword from somewhere. Tatsuki smirked, and then took a deep breath, letting it out. "Come." Itachi was the first, he came straight on, and then made a quick move to try and flank her, but was met with the back of a wrist, her hand bent like scythe. The blow struck Itachi's throat, knocking him back, and damaging his windpipe. Naruto was more careful, he then noticed that her stance had gone back to her resting stance, the shift from one to another had created massive force. He approached forward, and when he saw the slightest move he shifted only to see her catch his sword arm and slam a ridge hand into the back of his neck.

Sakura rushed forward as Naruto hit the ground, her fist dodged as the woman seemed to disappear, the hammer fist into her temple knocked her into unconsciousness.

"You people are pathetic, anyone who has ever fought a kempo master would know that you can't match force with force. You'll never beat me." It was then that she fell to one side, feeling the sharp pain in her left ankle.

Naruto stood up, he was holding his knife, her blood dripping from the blade.

"You should have knocked me out like Sakura, you would have beaten us then. I cut your Achilles tendon, you'll not be walking for a while, Itachi, can you breath?"

"I'm fine now." Itachi put his sword away, picked up Sakura and they made off.

"What is that woman? She'd make even the best martial artists seem like uncoordinated children." Naruto asked.

"That is Arisawa Tatsuki, she practices Mushin no Shin Ryu Kempo, the idea of the style is to impose change on your enemy with movement, not force." Itachi was carrying Sakura on his back.

"I see, like a boulder in a river."

"Exactly, they teach you not only how to move, but when." Itachi seemed to have a specific place in mind to run to. They ran, turning and twisting when they came to a stop at what looked to be a cliff, Sakura began to come to about then.

"We need to get up, and fast." Itachi focused his chakra and began running up the wall, Sakura did as well, Naruto had learned of this practice, but was somewhat unfamiliar, he did it anyway, taking steps more carefully than his escapees. When they got to the top of the cliff, Itachi was making hand seals. "Earth Style: Art of the hidden entrance!" A hole began forming in the wall, and it showed a deep cavern.

"You Akatsuki and your tricks." Naruto said, Itachi looked at him.

"this is my secret, none of the others know of it, I've spent years digging these." Itachi entered, pulling a length of cloth from his robe, and producing the wakizashi yet again. He wrapped the cloth around the blade and set it ablaze.

"That's terrible for the temper you know."

"If you're dealing with a regular sword, ANBU swords like this are forged with things like this in mind." Itachi handed the blade to Naruto as he closed the entrance, and they began traversing the tunnels.

"Okay, now tell me why you're helping us escape."

"Because I'm not the Itachi you think I am."

"Explain."

"I was doing a service to Konoha by murdering my clan." Itachi went on to explain that the Uchiha clan had begun plotting a coup and was going to take over Konoha, Itachi was a spy for the third Hokage, going to Uchiha council meetings and then reporting to the Hokage. When he learned of the coup he got permission to stop it at by any means necessary.

"Then you left your brother alive because you wanted him to take your life for your sins, you wanted him to come after you, but when I changed things, your plan was ruined." Naruto had pieced it together.

"Yes, and I begged the Hokage to protect Sasuke, he didn't need to be involved, and it was covered up. Just like that."

"Would you come home, if you could?"

"I would give anything to return home, I've been away far too long." Itachi seemed totally different from the cold, precise ninja Naruto had seen in the field.

"Then come back with us, we can get you new clothes on the way back, disguise you until we're safely in the Hokage's office, and discuss your reintegration into the village." Naruto explained.

"I'm in your debt Naruto."

"The Brotherhood taught us that anyone who isn't our target is a potential friend, make friends with favors, give them out willingly and you could have them returned later when you may need them. You've saved my life and Sakura's, and this is what I'm giving you back."

Sakura just drank it all in, she was in Konoha when the massacre happened, she'd been given the typical cover up story, that Itachi was utterly insane, and that was why he did it. This was all new information.

Suddenly the cramped tunnel became an opening to a cavern. Itachi moved his sword to the right, and lit a torch which illuminated the entire cavern. Inside were a myriad of boxes and supplies, another entrance on the opposing side of the room.

"Where better for the wolf to hide…" Itachi began, then a familiar voice answered.

"Than the den of his prey." Kakashi and Sasuke walked out into the room from the opposing tunnel.

"You said you were going to explain yourself, brother." Sasuke said, looking at his brother with hatred burning in his eyes. Itachi sighed and then began explaining the things that had happened on that fateful night and the events leading up to it. Sasuke was sitting on a large box, taking it all in.

"So you now see the pain I've been in, I wanted you to take my life then, but now I want nothing more than to redeem myself."

"You killed nearly fifty ninja that night." Sasuke said, his voice sounded emotionless but he also had an underlying tone of sadness. "But if Naruto has already said he's going to help you back into the village, then I think in time I can forgive you." Sasuke hopped off the box and they looked about the room, it was about twenty feet in diameter, a huge steel plate was the roof, several beams were holding it up, all made of thick cinder blocks like the walls, the floor was hard packed dirt.

They spent the night in the underground supply room, each keeping watch for an hour and a half except the last person, Sasuke who only watched for an hour, they woke and continued through the tunnels, traveling a full day's distance underground, Itachi inquired Sasuke about the goggles he was wearing over his hitai-ate, it was then that Sasuke recounted how he'd made his eyes the way they were, he now called it "Eye shine".

"It sucks during the day when it's bright out, but for stuff like this it's good." Sasuke's eyes were glowing red Sharingan, like blood when the moonlight reflects off the thick red plasma.

"I see, you are aware that Sharingan allows you to see in the dark as it is."

"I wasn't at the time, but now I am, but it's stuck like this until a further time."

"Turn left here, this is our stop." Itachi directed them to the wall, and used his jutsu to allow them out into the open air, Sasuke had replaced his goggles before hand, and they were now somewhere vaguely familiar, a forest outside the Konoha gate.

They disguised Itachi as an Assassin with Naruto's cloak and sword, which fit him well enough as Naruto wore his cloak large enough that it fit Itachi snug. They passed by the guards into the city without a problem, and made straight to Tsunade's office.

"So you've brought an assassin back?" Tsunade asked.

"Not quite, Before this happens, you have to listen very carefully, and maybe ask those advisors of yours, they might help you." Naruto turned to Itachi, and nodded. Itachi pulled off the hood of the white canvas cloak.

"Why did you bring a murderer here Naruto?" It was then that Itachi began explaining his reasons for the massacre, at first she didn't believe him, but when Homura and Danzo were brought in and said it was the truth, both looking over the ninja in front of them.

"It seems you've done well for yourself Itachi, Will you want to be reinstated as ANBU captain?" Danzo asked, he could pull some strings among the main group of the special operations groups.

"Not now, I want the people to regain my trust, give time for word to spread about the truth of the massacre." Itachi was sure Tsunade would let the word spread, people would go awol if a mass murderer was walking the streets, reinstated, but if it were a man who was wiping out a clan bent on the destruction of the village, he would be seen in a different light.

Sasuke was a happy, albeit confused person, he now had someone to help replenish the clan, but things would have to be much different, the new clan would be raised differently. Confusion was a given, he was now going to be living with someone he had spent the past five years hating.

"Sasuke, let's not stay at the compound, I don't think I can bear it yet." Itachi said, and they changed directions to Naruto's house. When they arrived they found Naruto training in his usual way.

"We have another guest, I hope you don't mind-"

"Nonsense, Itachi saved my ass the least I could do is let him live here, stay as long as you want." Naruto then returned to his training. Itachi simply took his things up to the room he'd picked out.

Jiraiya arrived at the house, and found Naruto training still.

"Hey Naruto, I think it's time you were sent out to train the Namikaze way." Jiraiya said, Naruto raised an eyebrow, looking at him.

"What do you mean?"

"You and I are going to spend some time in the mountains where Minato trained for three years, he's got a cabin with all his training methods sealed away, and it's time for you to learn them." Jiraiya smiled. "Pack your stuff, we're going camping."

-Chapter Twenty: End-

_**Author's Note: It's time for the time skip I mentioned in earlier chapters, I'll be skipping it, and getting on like before. I like Itachi, and I need him for later, so if you don't like it, it sucks because I'm not changing it. Anyway, you won't find Mushin no Shin Kempo anywhere, a friend of mine developed it from Kosho Shorei Ryu Kempo, and several other arts, Mushin no shin means Mind of no mind. Any how, if you have any questions, things of that sort, write me a review, I deal with constructive criticism well, but flaming is not my friend, and I dislike it. Thanks for reading, it may be a while before the next chapter, I've run into some writer's block for this one, so I'll be updating Sword of The Angels more until I have ideas.**_


	21. Return of the Assassin

_I don't Own Naruto or Assassin's Creed._

_**Bold is Supernatural speech.**_

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

_**Author's Note: It's finally back folks, let's see what Naruto's been up to for three years.**_

-Chapter Twenty One: Return of the Assassin-

Had anyone asked the birds, foxes, and other animals about anything strange, they would have been told about two people in black cloak running through the woods, running so fast that they were barely noticed before they were gone again.

Konoha had spent three years flourishing, three years sending shinobi to Masyaf and receiving assassins, three years spent in absence of their current hero. Namikaze Uzumaki Naruto. Currently one Haruno Sakura was sitting in the Hokage's office, they'd gotten a rather strange message that day.

_Expect a bang! We'll be dropping in. _Was all it said. They had all ANBU and assassins on guard, Jounin, and Chuunin were also on a sort of relaxed guard, so as not to alert the general populace.

Currently the two cloaked men were kneeling hidden on mountain above the village. Between them was a mortar.

"Alright, let's get things going." One said. The two men light the fuses.

Tsunade heard the bang. Then the second. Then a third, and finally a fourth.

They nodded to each other and took off towards the cliffs they launched themselves off. ANBU and assassin alike saw this, and they also realized that the explosions were fireworks.

A bang was heard on the top of Hokage tower. ANBU, Assassin, Tsunade, Shizune and Sakura rushed to the top of the tower. The first people who got there were beaten senseless before they knew what happened, swords were knocked away, blades and arrows deflected, and fighters dropped unconscious on the rooftop.

Sakura saw the two invaders, she saw the gloved hands of one of them, she saw the blade running along the left arm of both.

"Naruto! Sasuke!" she shouted. At once everyone stopped fighting. They let their hoods drop.

"Hey guys!" Naruto grinned. Sasuke shrugged.

"It was his idea." He immediately pointed the finger at Naruto.

"Then it was you who sent the message?"

"Yeah, it was to test us, I knew you'd have security tight. So as I was coming back I made a side trip to go pick him up. They've made him a full blown Assassin!" Sasuke had been training with the Assassins in Masyaf, Naruto was training alone at his father's mountain training land. Sakura had stayed here and trained with Tsunade, also learning from the documents Naruto had left her.

"You're an idiot Naruto." Sakura said, walking over to him and hugging him. "Welcome back."

"Well, let's go get some lunch, that operation wasn't easy." Naruto had changed quite a bit in his three year absence.

Lunch with team Seven was a strange event, Sakura asked tons of questions, all of which directed at Naruto were redirected towards Sasuke, or totally avoided.

"So why aren't you telling us anything about your training Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I want to show you. Let's go to the training field. Find Kakashi first, we can make it a two on two battle." They finished lunch and then went in search of the Cyclops.

There they stood on the field, the whole of team seven facing each other in a circle.

"We can do this tag team or we can do it normally." Kakashi said.

"I say we go for tag team, mix it up." Naruto said.

"Fine, then you're going first." Sasuke smirked.

"Good. More for me. Sakura, I choose you to be my opponent." Naruto shrugged out of his cloak, revealing a black gi. Sakura put on a pair of black leather gloves.

"Cool, then I get to show you some of my new moves. I have some new tricks." Sakura took a stance, almost like a boxing stance, but it was different, her feet were slightly farther apart, her hands were open and her rear shoulder was farther back.

Naruto rolled his shoulders and removed his gauntlets, which now had metal knuckle caps and plates over the proximal Phalanges _**(AN: The bone between your first and second knuckles)**_. He also removed his boots which were now steel toed and had metal plates over the tops of his feet and shins.

"You're looking to do some damage aren't you Naruto?" Sakura said, looking at the boots and gauntlets.

"The point of assassins is to kill. If I can cripple them, then it makes it easier." Naruto assumed a similar stance.

Sakura took the initiative, stepping in and trying for a roundhouse to the ribs, Naruto stepped into it, catching her hip, he knocked her away with a punch to her stomach.

The next attack was by Naruto, a punch which was redirected across his body led into an elbow, this landed across Sakura's left cheek, knocking her to the ground.

Sakura rolled out of the way of the axe kick that came down, and as she stood attacked Naruto's shin with her own, a powerful shin kick took the leg from beneath him, she used this to take him down, and continued raining blows down with her fists and elbows.

Naruto guarded his face and chest with his arms, Sakura had placed herself in a bad position, she was between his legs which set him up for his next attack.

He pushed his arms forward, leaning up he took her shoulders and pulled her down, he pulled his leg up and over her back, allowing her left shoulder under his leg, her right was now across her neck, his leg was behind her neck and his left was applying a downward pressure on her throat.

Naruto was choking her with her own arm, he'd positioned himself so that she could generate no power with her left, and couldn't lift him up or roll him out of the position. As she felt her air and blood being choked off she tapped her left repeatedly against his leg, signaling surrender.

"Naruto, where did you learn that?" Kakashi asked, he'd never seen anything like that.

"My dad had a great deal of knowledge on ancient martial arts, what you saw was a triangle choke from Jujutsu." Naruto said.

"Alright, I want to play some." Sasuke said, signaling Kakashi to spar with him.

Sakura accepted Naruto's offer for help.

"You've been doing strength training." Naruto had noticed when he ate the shin kick that took his balance from him.

"Yeah, Tsunade said that since I don't have the chakra stores you guys do, If I work on physical endurance and strength then I can focus on my Taijutsu. I've been spending a lot of time training with Lee and Gai-sensei."

"I see, you learned some mixed arts. I'll teach you some Jujutsu and some of the Muay Thai, you'll like them. Now let's watch." Naruto pointed to the other teammates.

Sasuke pulled out a scroll and unsealed a pair of black sticks. He settled in a stance with one stick in front of him, facing up and his rear stick resting diagonally across his center. Kakashi examined the stance and pulled out his own training weapon, a single wooden Kodachi.

"Gone back to using a sword sensei?" Sasuke smirked. Kakashi held the sword in front of him.

"Kaiten Kenbu, first dance." He was gone, and in a moment he was upon his student who blocked the first and second whirling blows, but the third struck him across the chest.

Sasuke lashed out with the first stick, it was blocked by Kakashi's sword, but Sasuke followed up with the second, striking the back of his own, forcing Kakashi into a defensive stance.

Sasuke shifted his stick with his wrist so that it was below the sword and he pushed up, leaving his teacher's solar plexus open, he smashed the butt of the stick into the open ribs.

Kakashi knew he'd have to take the offensive, he kicked low, causing Sasuke to step back to avoid it, he stepped in and forced the Uchiha's defense with a flurry of blows from all angles.

He switched to a reverse grip, moving close in and pushing Sasuke's right arm aside as he blocked the blow, this left his back open for the Hatake's left hand to strike down.

Sasuke ate dirt as the blow fell, Kakashi took the opportunity to relieve Sasuke of his sticks, tossing them aside. The student stood, putting his hands in front of his face, palms outward.

Kakashi was confused at first, but realized that his ebony haired opponent was in a fighting stance. He tried attacking, but was amazed when his blade was pushed aside he was disarmed, kicked across his shins, and then took a palm strike in the face.

It didn't stop there, the Uchiha then used the wooden kodachi and his left hand to beat Kakashi into submission so quickly that he had no chance to fight back. Sasuke retrieved his sticks and sealed them up.

"So what exactly was that Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"It's an art from some lost culture called Arnis. Using sticks, short blades and knives primarily, it's fast, brutal and all close fighting, so it negates the effectiveness of long weapons like katana, and even most kodachi styles."

"And the palm strikes are a product of your double arm blades I assume?" Kakashi pointed to the gauntlets that lay beside them.

"Partially, the people who created Arnis didn't use closed fists. Plus my training with the assassins has let me use their special weapons." Sasuke smirked.

"Alright Sasuke, let's see who's the better assassin." Naruto said, stepping up. "No weapons, all empty hand. Just like your mentor had you do." Naruto was of course talking about the test both him and likely Sasuke had to do where they fought their mentor for as long as they could. You had to last an hour empty handed, it was thought that if you could fight a full fledged assassin for an hour bare handed then you could put up with the stresses of battle with any weapon.

"So do we go the full time limit?" Sasuke asked.

"No, I think that fifteen minutes is enough. Kakashi, can you time?"

"Sure." Kakashi pulled out his pocket watch and watched the time.

Naruto attacked first with a straight punch, blocked by Sasuke, but the low uppercut knocked him back.

Continuing his advance with a flurry of fists, elbows, knees and kicks kept Sasuke on his heels, Naruto was of greater build than him, taller, more muscular and outweighing him Naruto found that Sasuke's only advantage was that his style was used to combat traditional styles.

Sasuke finally made his way around the waves of blows that rained down on him, he ducked under a punch, putting his arm up to block the knee that came, and he shoulder tackled his opponent away.

Palms, knife and ridge hands assaulted the blond, elbows, shins and knees found their marks as Sasuke was faster than his stronger adversary. A ridge hand across the side of the head staggered Naruto, and that was when he gained his ground.

Naruto blocked most of the blows that came his way, feeling one or two strike him, Sasuke then grabbed his defending arm, and tried to throw him by his arm. Naruto clamped to the arm, dropping to a knee and rolling back, slamming Sasuke on his back.

This was where Sasuke had known he'd lost the battle, Naruto was good at ground fighting. He felt the legs straddle his left arm, the hands on his wrist and finally the pain in his elbow that told him he'd been put into an arm bar. He tapped, knowing full well what arm bars did to arms.

"So you're familiar with Jujutsu?" Naruto smiled, standing up.

"Ten minutes left." Kakashi called out.

"My family descends from Samurai, jujutsu was taught as our bare handed combat style." Sasuke took a different stance. His feet sideways, he put his arms out, rear elbow tucked and front arm straight ahead.

"Then let's roll." Naruto advanced, slapping the arm down, a common thing among Jujutsu-ka.

Sasuke took his turn, grabbing a shoulder, he turned and threw Naruto to the ground with a hip throw. The battle between the two went on for the full fifteen minutes, they separated every five minutes or so, standing again and switching their methods of fighting, first it was the mixed arts, then Jujutsu, then boxing.

"Time!" Kakashi shouted. They separated, faces and bodies bruised, joints sore, and Sasuke was nursing a cut below his left eye from Naruto's fist.

"Man, those two did a number on each other." Sakura set to work with her medical training, healing the cut under Sasuke's eye, and the bruises on their bodies.

"Sasuke, you fixed your eyes." Sakura noticed he wasn't wearing the black welding goggles anymore.

"Yeah, but I can use them still, just like my normal Sharingan." Sasuke wouldn't demonstrate because of what it would do to his eyes to activate them in broad daylight. "Downside is that I can only use my Sharingan at night, or in the dark."

Naruto sat on the ground, drinking some water when he sensed the people coming. He stood, grabbing his sword.

"Tsunade requests your presence." the Assassin said. Many had been stationed in Konoha to act as soldiers, it was the same for ninja, they were sent to Masyaf, given a crash course in Assassin methods and put to work.

"Alright then, let's go." Naruto put his boots and gauntlets back on, he wore his sword across his back, and carried throwing knives instead of his crossbow. His knife was strapped to his thigh.

At the Hokage's office they all stood, waiting to find out the problem.

"We've been asked by Sunagakure to send some of our ninja to assist them, they've fallen under attack by the organization Akatsuki, and they require our best soldiers, I'm sending you four." Tsunade said. All of them nodded. "This is a double S-class mission. Kill anyone who gets in your way."

"Yes ma'am." The four said in unison.

They set off almost immediately.

_**-**_Chapter Twenty One: End-

_**Author's Note: This chapter was just to show what they'd all learned. I've been doing some training with my MMA buddies, and that's where pretty much everything in this chapter came from. Except the Arnis bit, that's another style totally. I plan on making this story about thirty chapters long total. Any questions, comments, advice, write up a review and press the 'Submit Review' button. Thanks.**_


	22. Desert Invasion

I don't Own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

**Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like.**

-Chapter Twenty Two: Desert Invasion-

It took only a short time to cover the distance between Konoha and Suna, about a day and a half compared to the normal three day trek that it would be.

Sitting outside, carefully concealed in the desert were the four assisting forces. They plotted their invasion of the allied country.

The invasion happened quickly, Kakashi went with Sasuke, it was decided that an Assassin should be in each half of the group. Naruto and Sakura went together, taking the eastern entrance, closer to where the civilian shelter would be. Sasuke and Kakashi entered over the north western wall.

Naruto was on edge when he saw no one guarding the gate, he'd assumed that someone from the opposing force would be guarding the entrances, he drew his crossbow, peeking around the corner, he waved to Sakura, signaling safety, and they went in.

Sasuke and Kakashi sat atop the wall, scoping out the below terrain. Suddenly they saw three figures, one looking human, another like a giant bird, and the third an amorphous blob with a giant metal scorpion's tail.

"Those would be our targets." Sasuke said, identifying the red clouds on the cloak.

"Fire the flare and I'll move in." Kakashi pulled out his sword, moving down the wall with extreme speed, he jumped so that he would land on the rooftops below. Sasuke had launched a massive fireball into the air, that was the signal he was to send up if the enemy were found.

Naruto and Sakura saw the fireball, and immediately ran to the area it came from, it was a ways away, but with their speed they covered the distance quickly. Naruto rounded a corner to find Kakashi dodging explosive clay birds, Sasuke was dodging all manner of projectiles.

"Sakura, take the clay thrower, I'm going for the puppet." Naruto fired a bolt at the puppet's tail in attempt to disable it. He fired bolt after bolt, Sakura attacked the sculptor, dodging the clay birds that were exploding behind around her. Finally she got close enough to attack with her fist, the leather glove smashed through the enemy's jaw, bones cracking, the target was hit, and damn well by anyone's judgment.

Naruto had run out of bolts, and decided to take this battle closer.

The puppet had a very good system of detection, Naruto could find no way to get around the traps that attacked him.

"Sasuke, hit him with the Fire!" Naruto shouted, his affinity was wind, and as Sasuke began the fire Jutsu, Naruto began a wind one that would increase power.

"Fire Style: Art of Great Fireball!"

"Wind Style: Art of Hurricane!" The two jutsu hit their target at the same time, the powerful wind fanning the massive flames, melting the armor of the puppet.

The puppet master arose from his smoldering and melted armor only to have a pair of blades laid across his neck.

"Where is Gaara?" Naruto demanded.

"My partner, whom your lady friend just flattened over there had him on that bird." The puppeteer said. "I take it my life is very close to it's end?"

"Your assumption is correct." Sasuke pulled his sword, spilling the man's blood on the scorched puppet.

Sakura held the clay user by his cloak, reaching the same answer at about the same time. She reached behind her and pulled a dagger from it's sheath and thrust it under the man's chin, giving it a twist she felt his life spill across her hands and forearms.

"Mission accomplished." Kakashi said, currently helping Gaara back onto his feet. "He looks to be nursing a mean concussion, but he seems fine other than that."

"Let's get him to a bed." They took to the hospital which was nearby, the ANBU posted to protect the injured were divided, one group went to the shelter, the others helped the Konoha ninja clear the corpses of the fallen Suna ninja, and the two Akatsuki.

By the day's end, Gaara had regained consciousness and had healed mostly, but his concussion still left him slightly dizzy. Naruto had come in, seeing the current Sunakage sitting in a hospital bed.

"Hey Gaara, looks like they gave you a good ass kicking." Naruto said. "Happens to the best of us."

"They took us by surprise, the scorpion puppet killed nearly a dozen ANBU. The explosives master caused hundreds of thousands of collateral damage, but we've got no dead from him. I remember falling, but I don't remember much other than that."

"That explains the concussion and cuts." Sakura said, she was currently sitting in a chair, rubbing an ointment on her arms to help with the sunburns she had. "I'm thinking it's time for an outfit change, I've been wearing pretty much the same thing since I graduated from the academy." Sakura stated. "Something that has more coverage." Sakura's outfit did indeed reveal a lot of skin, making places like deserts dangerous.

"Plus you're the only one of us who hasn't changed what you wear since I've come to Konoha." Naruto and Sasuke had both changed their attire since then.

Sasuke came through the door to the hospital, covered in sand and looking tired.

"Digging graves in the desert is harder than one would think." Sasuke said. "We've got forty thousand for the puppet master. And the explosives man is worth the same, how are we going to divide it up" Sasuke held up a stack of bills, Sasori was after all a ninja who was native to Sunagakure.

"Twenty thousand for each of us." Kakashi said.

"If you'd all excuse me, I'd like to get some real sleep." Gaara said quietly.

Sasuke and Kakashi had headed to the hotel, Sakura and Naruto decided to look around the town. It was late, but they wanted to get some fresh air before they returned to the hotel. Currently they were walking, arm in arm down some undamaged street, they'd closed down the damaged parts for repair which was to begin tomorrow. While walking, Naruto had offered his cloak, he'd felt her shivering from the cold desert winter.

"I'm thinking of using my old sword again, I like this one, but I've gotten much stronger since I came, so I think I can use the other one for a long period now."

"I had to get a new one a while ago, the one I had before broke."

"Ask Tenten to make you one, her swords are great." Naruto said. "Or you can take this one." Naruto patted the blade on his side.

"I wouldn't want to take it, it was made specially for-"

"I'm offering it to you Sakura, please take it." Naruto said. "Besides, I'm going to be using my other one anyway."

"But what about the engravings?" Naruto could tell that Sakura wanted it, but also didn't because of it's value."

"I've got my sword, and If you show them that while I'm there, they'll see it as a symbol of my feelings for you." Naruto turned to her. "That's what I want it to be Sakura. I love you."

Sakura, could feel herself go weak in the knees, but to her defense, She'd been dating Naruto for almost three and a half years, even though he was away, he still sent foxes with letters, constantly saying that he missed her more than anything. The warm hands on her neck, and the lips on hers only worsened the effect. When they parted, she returned those same three, magical words. They'd returned to the hotel, The rooms were only fit for two people, and Sasuke and Kakashi had taken one, so Naruto and Sakura took the other one. Standing at his bed he removed his gi. Sakura eyes were fixed on the well muscled and tanned body that was her boyfriend's, he turned, seeing her still wrapped in his cloak.

"See something you like?" He smirked. Sakura got up, leaving the cloak on the bed, going over to him, the events that were to follow could only be described as 'making love'.

When Sasuke woke up, Kakashi sat in a chair, reading a book that was not Icha Icha Paradise.

"Go wake them up, We've got to leave by ten, and it's eight thirty."

"Why don't you do it Kakashi?"

"Because I know what they were doing last night, and frankly I'd much rather you see Naruto naked than for me to see him naked." Sasuke glared at his teacher, getting dressed quickly and going across the hall.

He knocked on the door, shouting into the room, trying to wake them up without going in the room. Finally Naruto answered the door, wearing only his boxers.

"What?" Sasuke saw the clothes scattered about the room, and immediately it all made sense.

"Kakashi…sent me to wake you up, we need to leave by ten, and it's eight thirty." Sasuke said.

"Give us some time, I've still got to wake her up." Naruto closed the door, he roused her. They showered before dressing, and then went to meet Kakashi and Sasuke, before they went to the door, Sakura stopped Naruto.

"Could you please not tell the others?" Sakura asked.

"That's fine, I wasn't planning on it anyway." They left the room, and across the hall, Kakashi sat in his chair, snickering behind a book.

"So Naruto, how was it?" Kakashi looked at his student.

"How was what?" Naruto tried to feign ignorance.

"Well, I'm surprised that Sasuke slept through it, Sakura was quite loud." His grin was visible under the mask. Sakura's face immediately burned with a redness that put the sunburns on her arms to shame.

"Kakashi, if you tell a soul about this I'll have your head." Naruto said, quite serious."

"My lips are sealed." Kakashi got up, retrieving a bagel from the cupboard. "Well Anyway, I hope you guys were protected, I don't think Sakura would want a child right now." It was weird to hear Kakashi talk of things like that.

"We did, if you looked in the drawers of the night stand they put some in there." Naruto said.

"We were careful." Sakura said, still red from the thought of what Kakashi had said before.

The sound of the shower shutting off alerted them to Sasuke finishing his shower. When he came out he appeared to be shivering.

"Did you just take a cold shower Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I just took a cold shower." Sasuke glared at his friend. A knock at the door changed their focus. Naruto opened the door to find Gaara's sister Temari waiting.

"I'm to be going back to Konoha with you." Temari said. She was the ambassador for Suna, and would come back to Suna for a few months a year. She saw the shivering Sasuke. "Why is he shivering in the desert?"

"Cold shower. Please come in, we're not leaving for a while."

Temari joined in on the banter, not being told of Naruto and Sakura's actions, they'd all decided to change the subject, and were currently talking about everything and nothing.

"Hey Sasuke, how come you've never had a girlfriend?" Sakura asked.

"Because fan girls are not girlfriend material." Sasuke sat in a chair, his cloak was warming him up quickly.

"There's plenty more than fan girls in Konoha." Naruto was making oatmeal. "I know that Tenten has some friends that aren't even close to what one would call a fan girl. Maybe she can set you up."

They ate their breakfast in this fashion, and barely left the city by ten. Temari talked with Sakura for much of the first day after Sakura had asked about the battle kimono that Temari wore.

Sasuke and Naruto were talking together, about many things, eventually the topic of conversation landed back on Sasuke's dating life.

"What about Temari?" Naruto asked.

"I barely know her!" Sasuke sputtered.

"That's what dates are for, just ask her out, I'm sure she'll say yes."

"Are you sure about this Naruto?" Sasuke seemed skeptical.

"Absolutely. Just go to her, and ask her if you can treat her to dinner, and if she says yes, then it's on, if no, then no harm done." Naruto had lied through his teeth when he said he was sure about it. But it worked.

"Alright fine, when we set up camp I'll ask her." Sasuke said.

"Good." Naruto smirked triumphantly beneath his hood. When they bedded down, Naruto nudged Sasuke. He approached Temari nervously.

"Temari…I um…was wondering if you'd like to get some dinner with me when we get back to Konoha." Sasuke stammered out.

Sakura looked on in shock, Sasuke, the cool headed prince of Konoha was nervous around women.

"Uchiha Sasuke, are you asking me out on a date?" Temari smiled.

"Yes Temari, I am." Sasuke smiled, trying to show self confidence.

"Then Sasuke, I have this to say, yes I'll go with you."

_Congratulations Sasuke. _Naruto said mentally. He looked at his friend.

"Well then, if you'll excuse me, I have to get some sleep." She said. Sasuke had first watch, so he was left to his own devices for a few hours longer. Sasuke was rather embarrassed about his little secret, he'd been trained by the world's best killers, taught to face the impossible unflinchingly, and here he was nervous over asking a girl out. Fate had a funny way of doing things, Sasuke said to himself. But it did all work itself out eventually.

-Chapter Twenty Two: End-

_**Author's Notes: Sorry it's been so long, I've been very busy lately, and it's been difficult to do things. I'm going to post another story when I finish Sword of the Angels. I decided that this story is going to last much longer than I'd originally planned, I want this one to last all the way until Akatsuki is totally destroyed. I'll be updating Sword of the Angels soon, as I've hit a wall with Naruto Gaiden. Thank you for dealing with my inconsistencies in my updating, I hope you enjoy this story.**_


	23. Life In Konoha

I don't Own Naruto, I also don't own Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

-Chapter Twenty Three: Life in Konoha-

Sasuke and Naruto were in the training room, The Uchiha was battering the stationary training bag, Naruto was hanging from a bar on the ceiling doing sit ups.

"I'm telling you Sasuke, at least act like you're confident, even if you've no clue what's going on." He unhooked his legs, and began doing pull ups. "A ninja's best tool is deception. This goes doubly so for someone who is dating another ninja."

"But I don't know what the hell to say." Sasuke took his sticks in hand, assaulting the sand filled canvas with the weapons. "Would you like to know one hundred ways to kill someone with those chopsticks?" He joked.

"Just relax, remember your training, you can't fight if you're tense, just relax, be yourself, and don't bring weapons."

"Why not?"

"Just trust me on that one, don't bring any weapons." He dropped from the bar, and began on another bag, "And it's getting into winter now, if she gets cold, offer your coat." Sasuke's outfit was very similar to Naruto's only he wore a black cloak, he was clothed from head to toe in black. _That makes sense I guess. _Sasuke shrugged.

"Wait, coat, not cloak?"

"Yeah, we're going to get you some dating clothes." Naruto finished. "You don't have to meet her until seven, that's twelve hours from now. So as soon as we finish, We'll go get them in a bit."

"You wore your usual clothes whenever you went out with Sakura."

"True, but I never really asked her out, our first date was a trip to the movies, if it can be called a date, there was also the time I took her to see the sunset." Naruto shrugged.

"That's unfair, she basically fell right into your lap."

"That she did. Or I guess since she was here first, I fell into her lap." They both finished training at about the same time. They showered, dressed, and they went to the shopping district.

Finding the right store, they ducked into the store.

"How may I help you two?" The store owner asked.

"Yes, my friend here has a date tonight, I was hoping you could give him something to wear." Naruto requested. The lady's eyes lit up. She set about with measurements, color and fabric suggestions, all manner of things. The final product was Uchiha Sasuke standing in black slacks, a royal blue silk shirt, and a black vest covering that. He had a black pea coat over his arm, admiring the lady's work.

It was a rather pricy purchase, but Naruto had convinced him that it was worth every bit of it.

Sasuke emerged from the tailor's shop with a pair of suit bags draped over his shoulder.

"Did you really have to go that far Naruto? Two suits and two different kinds of jackets? Really?"

"Yes, it was absolutely necessary." He stated. "If you don't have formal clothes, then what kind of man are you?"

"I've never seen you wear anything formal."

"I have a suit, I have six." He looked at his friend. "They were expensive though, I'd prefer not to wear them." Sasuke was lost for words.

Sasuke looked in the mirror, he had to admit, he did look good. The white undershirt, the blue suit, it was a dark blue and pinstriped, a blue that looked black in low light, and the belted trench coat over that. He adjusted the red tie, it was different, he'd usually dressed for freedom of motion, concealment, and for the Brotherhood, now here he was dressing to look good.

When seven o'clock finally came, Naruto practically forced Sasuke out the door. Sasuke was to pick up Temari at the home where the Suna ambassador stays, he headed there immediately, his trench coat flapping at the wind.

When he arrived, he knocked and waited. When Temari finally came out, she was wearing a black dress, it ended at just below her knees, had no real back to speak of, and fit her to a 'T'.

"Temari…You look, n-nice." Sasuke stammered out.

"Thank you Sasuke, you look nice as well." She looked him over. "So what's the plan?"

"We've got dinner reservations, and I'd figured we'd go from there."

"I see, then let's get going, sounds like we've got a busy night." She smiled.

The whole dinner, Sasuke tried as hard as he could to not stutter or stammer. It royally pissed him off that he did so. There were a couple times that He would catch himself and Temari would giggle. Then, it was worth it, but the rest of the time he would just carefully think about what he would say.

At the end of dinner, they wandered the city, Sasuke had surrendered his trench coat, and he really couldn't blame Temari for being cold, even on this fall night, it was rather cold, and she wasn't really dressed appropriately for cold. Their banter continued for a while, until Sasuke stopped cold.

"What is it?"

"Them." He pointed to a group of seven people, all dressed in black pants, and a black gi with a three piece chest plate and shoulder pads, their hitai ate were shaped as dragon horns. They were the Hayabusa, a branch of the Uchiha clan, the elite of the elite.

"Sasuke, come with us, we need you to come with us. It's important that you do."

"I won't. Please leave us to our walk." He said.

"Fine, then we'll take you by force." They drew their swords, Sasuke removed his suit's coat, and rolled his sleeves up, revealing a seal tattooed into his skin. He ran his hand over it, producing a dagger. The Hayabusa knew that Sasuke had been trained by Assassins, but not of his proficiency with a dagger.

Sasuke was gone in a flash, and the first Hayabusa was down in a cry of pain and spray of blood. The second saw Sasuke, and attempted to swing on him, but had his sword blocked, he was disarmed and run through with his own blade.

The third and fourth came at him from opposite sides, swinging in different directions, the first was swinging down, the second low and to the side. Sasuke jumped into the one swinging down, kicking him in the groin and grabbing his sword, slashing the from shoulder to thigh.

"Come on, I'll kill the rest of you if you want." His voice wasn't the usually warm voice of the Uchiha, but the cold voice of a trained assassin.

"Sasuke, Madara is back, we need you to help, your brother has gone into hiding, we can't locate him, and you're our only hope."

"The Hayabusa were formally disbanded ten years ago! That you're using the elite name of my clan is defiling it!" Sasuke threw the sword straight for the speaker, only to have one of the men step in the way. The second rushed Sasuke, only to be intercepted by a kick through his knee. "If you really are a member of the Hayabusa, beat me and prove it." Sasuke held up his dagger.

The man removed his head gear, underneath was a dark face covered in scars and burns. Sasuke recognized him as Uchiha Hayabusa Ryu.

"So be it." He flashed hand seals, and as he was about to finish, Sasuke beat him to the punch, muttering a jutsu in Arabic, blowing the man's leg off. Screaming in agony, the man looked up at Sasuke.

"You've offended my clan, and me, only seven people? Come on, what do you think I am? A fucking child?"

"Sasuke, we didn't mean to offend you, it's just that you're the only one that can help." The man pleaded, handing two scrolls to the Uchiha Assassin. "That's what our intelligence has gathered. It tells of what we know of Akatsuki and Madara." Sasuke accepted the scroll, the man then took his dagger and committed suicide.

Sasuke turned around, his shirt, face, and pants were all covered in blood. "I think that I should go change before we go anywhere else." He smirked.

"Yeah, me too, since it looks like we've got some reading to do." She smiled. "Your place or mine?"

"Well, I'd think mine, since I've got considerably better security, plus I'm tired of this damn suit."

"Well let's stop by my house to grab some decent clothing. This is my favorite dress, but it's not good for any sort of ninja activity." She smiled at him as they went towards her home, which wasn't far.

At the door, Temari stopped.

"No peeking Sasuke." She eyed him with what he swore was a challenging look.

"Wouldn't dream of it." He smiled. Walking inside, he saw that the ambassador's estate was an amazing dwelling. The walls were painted a tan color, there were a number of pictures of Temari and her family, which he'd assumed she brought herself. There were scrolls en masse on the shelves, comfortable couches and chairs, a TV, many movies, and this was just the living room, the house was big, nothing compared to his house, but Sasuke did live with the next in line for Hokage, the son of the best leader ever to grace Konoha, and one of the most dangerous people to walk the planet.

When Temari emerged from her room, she wore a black yukata, black leggings, and her usual sandals. She had her fan, and a short sword, he'd never seen the sword before.

"Where'd you get that sword?" Sasuke pointed to the blade.

"It was a gift from my brother, he sent it ahead of us. I don't know why he didn't just give it to me before we left." She shrugged. It was a kodachi, a sword that was designed as a defense weapon, but when used properly could be a deadly offensive weapon.

Back at The Uchiha-Namikaze mansion, Naruto had been watching a movie with Sakura when Sasuke walked in.

"Really Sasuke, couldn't you have avoided getting blood all over your clothes?"

"I told you I shouldn't have worn formal clothes. I went and ruined them."

"Don't worry about it, I have a soap that can get it out." He said. "So who did you kill?"

"Let me get changed and I'll tell you." He went upstairs, and into his room.

Sasuke's Assassin dress was slightly different than Naruto's, instead of a black shirt, Sasuke wore a gi, over that was a leather chest plate, then his cloak. His boots weren't plated Like Naruto's, but did have a steel toe and heel. He adjusted his gauntlets, made sure that his blades were all in working order, and that his sword was in place. He also chose a different weapon than Naruto, he had two Dao, the broadswords used by the ancient Chinese culture. They attached into one sword and sheathed as one. Aside from the cloak to hide his face, he had a mask, which he wore on missions, it resembled a dragon's face.

He went downstairs, the scrolls in hand, everyone was sitting around the table.

"We have a problem Naruto. The Hayabusa, Uchiha's old elite, have revived. And it seems that Madara is acting as part of Akatsuki." He handed the scrolls to Naruto. The scrolls told of Akatsuki bases, member dossiers, movement, and the other scroll was entirely on Madara, his past, his known jutsu, his description, and weapons he may use.

"I'll give these to Tsunade, and we can have copies sent to Al-Tair." Naruto said, rolling them back up. "Encrypted copies of course."

"So Sasuke, what do you propose we do about this?" Naruto asked.

"We need to find my brother. Without him, it'll be hard to bring down the Akatsuki." Sasuke said.

"Well, little brother, that won't be as hard as you may think." Itachi walked into the room, and sat down next to his brother. "I see that you have father's Blue Spirit mask. A good choice, that'll spread fear, you're even using the same kind of swords as him."

"When did you get here Itachi?" Sasuke knew the truth of the Uchiha Massacre, and he had reason to believe that's why the Hayabusa had gone into hiding, they had always been loyal to the Hokage, not to the leader of the Uchiha, much like the ANBU had been when it was still run by the Uchiha clan.

"Just after Naruto sent you on your date." He smiled. "Well, I've been here all day, but I didn't come here until just a few hours ago." He looked up at the ceiling. "And if you want to find the rest of the Hayabusa, I know where to find them. That's what our next move will be, we'll bring them here, contact Masyaf, and then move on the Akatsuki bases, I know where they all are, their layout, and who's stationed there." Itachi smirked. "Finally, Madara will be going down."

-Chapter Twenty Three: End-

_**Author's Note: This chapter is long overdue, but I had some serious writer's block. The Blue Spirit idea is from Avatar, the Dao are Chinese broadswords, a sword that I've always thought to be really cool. The Hayabusa is from Ninja Gaiden. I've finally gotten this story rolling again, and I'll try and have another chapter up by New Year's. **_


	24. The Hayabusa Ninja Village

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

**Bold writing is supernatural speech.**

-Chapter Twenty Four: The Hayabusa Ninja Village-

Itachi, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, and Temari had been traveling for three days. Temari decided to come along simply because if there was going to be war, then Suna would also be involved. The place they were going was a village in the mountains, similar to Masyaf, except five thousand feet higher in elevation. Masyaf stood at seven thousand feet.

They stood at the base of a mountain, looking up, they saw trees. They began their expedition, they'd began at dawn, sleeping at the base of the mountain before. They figured that they could make at least a few miles before the darkness hit.

Sakura looked at her current attire, and was glad she decided to change her mode of dress. She wore leggings and a black undershirt like Temari, but over that, she wore knee length shorts, and a gi. Temari had joked about how she looked like a guy, but Naruto then replied with a comment along the lines of 'no guy has curves like those.' Which made Sakura blush.

Across her back, underneath her cloak was Naruto's sword.

After the first day of travel, they bedded down, Naruto and Sakura had taken one tent, Itachi had his own, as did Sasuke and Temari.

The next morning, they'd awakened to being surrounded by nearly two feet of snow.

"Well, Sasuke, you wouldn't happen to have any snow shoes hand would you?"

"Nope, but I've got something better." He began muttering something in Arabic._ "Summoning Art: Aujbal" _as he finished, a massive lion appeared in front of him. "Well Neko, it seems that you're doing well. We need some help." Sasuke pointed up. "We need to be up there. And it'll be difficult with two feet of snow stopping us."

"**So I'm a pack mule now? Do I have to carry all five of you?"**

"No, I've got my own ride." Naruto then summoned his own animal. "Hey, you like snow right?"

"**It's not my least favorite thing to walk in, I'm glad these Hayabusa don't live in the desert."** The Kyuubi said, he was in a smaller form, largely due to the fact that the seal on Naruto's stomach only allowed a small amount of his chakra out. But by human standards, he was still big, making a horse seem like a small animal. **"Hello Aujbal, it's nice to see that you didn't get stuck with a dumbass.**"

"**My thoughts exactly. The Assassins definitely picked a good one to pair me with."** Lion summons were all paired with a single human, one cat to one human. **"I quite like this one, he's smart, and has a sense of humor. No sense in dawdling, let's get going."** They mounted their animals, Naruto and Sakura mounted the fox, it's lithe but powerful frame allowed it speed over power. The great lion however, carried three people, Sasuke had Temari in front of him, and his brother behind him.

With a great bound forward they began up the hill, they covered the land in leaps and bounds, thanks to their beasts.

They dispelled the summons before they got too close to the village, and decided to hike to the gate on foot. The path was narrow, flanked on either side by large wooden spikes, which looked to be the size of a reasonably sized tree. There were two guards on either side, who laid eyes on Itachi and his brother, who was practically a carbon copy of the man, and let them pass.

The village was very different than normal ninja villages, the ground had been moved so that it was flat, with paths leading up to the mountain, all the dirt had been piled up at the sides of streets where no houses were.

There were ninja all over, young children ran around, women did their shopping, and the men went about their work. Sasuke and Itachi decided to split up the group, one Uchiha with each. The Hayabusa had a particular knack, even when they were of Konoha's ranks, to be particularly hostile towards others.

Sasuke and Temari asked around, and finally pieced together that the village leader was at the top of the mountain, another three thousand feet up.

Their next goal was to get the other three, and try and find somewhere to stay.

Sasuke was getting tired of this, being surrounded by a group of people who wanted to fight, only to have to get blood all over his clothes. He drew his swords, separating them and taking a neutral stance.

These Hayabusa were much faster than the ones that had come to Konoha, but there was less of them. Two came at once, Sasuke blocked an overhead slash and a sideways swipe, he kicked away the one that had attacked down and blocked the one who came in for a second attack from the opposite side.

Temari had drawn her kodachi and was fighting off the ninja that had attacked her. None of them had decided to use their swords, favoring kunai and daggers. She'd tried not to deal any life threatening blows, but some things just couldn't be avoided.

Sasuke, on the other hand attacked where and when he could, not caring if he killed, maimed, or simply stopped his attacker. He felled the last one with a thrust through the throat, and turned to see Temari receive a knife in the side. He combined the swords, drew a throwing knife and then followed it, catching the man who'd dodged the knife and slammed him into the ground by his head. The Uchiha then proceeded to bring his sword around and cut clean through a man's leg.

He stopped when there were no more enemies. That was when the clapping started. He looked for the source of the clapping, to find a man that looked exactly like Ryu.

"I'm glad that my brother found you, that was a good show. I'm Ken, brother of Ryu, and son of Murai. You are Uchiha Sasuke."

"So I am. We need to speak with your father."

"Not one to mince words are we? Well then, have fun, he's at the temple on the top of the mountain, it's guarded by our best, and he's the only one allowed up there." Sasuke smirked.

"You see what we can do, and there's still three more, one who is better than me, and another who is my older brother Itachi." The man stared at him in disbelief. "I don't think the guards will be a problem, but still, we'll try not to kill them if we don't have to."

"That, good Uchiha, will be your downfall, for they won't stop until you kill them." Sasuke shrugged, and went in search of Naruto, Itachi and Sakura.

They all managed to find each other, as it happened, Naruto, Itachi and Sakura had faced a similar group of attackers. Five Hayabusa had attacked them, Naruto had never drawn his blade, dispatching two of them with his bare hands, and a third with the blade that spent it's time on the underside of his left arm.

_Is he really that much better than me? I was hard pressed fighting with the swords, and even after all that training, I still can't match his skills._ Sasuke thought to himself. When they had sparred in Konoha, it seemed like an even enough match, but now, Sasuke wasn't so sure. Even Itachi had used a sword, his kodachi.

After a few hours of travel up the mountain, they came to a wall, guarded by two ninja on each side.

"You cannot pass, only our clan's leader is allowed up in the mountain temple." The guard said, clearly the biggest one. "Leave, or I will be forced to kill you all."

Naruto had trouble believing that four guards, regardless of their skill could kill two Uchiha, himself, Sakura and Temari, who were regarded as the best Kunoichi in the ranks of Suna and Konoha. Barring Tsunade from that of course, as she was the Hokage. He smiled. "Let's make a deal, you and I fight with our bare hands, no weapons at all. If I kill you, then we pass, if you kill me, then the rest of us leave." Naruto said.

"You think you can kill me with your bare hands assassin?" He scoffed. "I'll accept your challenge." He threw down the spear he had. Removing the belt that held his sword, and holsters for his other weapons, he set them down, removing his armor and gi, he showed powerful muscles and many scars.

Naruto removed his gauntlets, sword belt, knives, and boots, there he stood, clad in only his trousers. Temari leaned over and whispered to Sakura. "You picked a good one, he's hot." Sakura snickered, biting back the laugh.

Naruto stretched his arms, and rolled his shoulders. "It's bad to treat a weapon like that, throwing it down. You should take better care of your equipment if you wish it to serve you well." He ducked the punch the man threw, a fast blow with quite a lot of power behind it, and delivered his own punch to the man's body. Stepping back, he smirked, the man went to move in and attack again, only to have his attempts thwarted by Naruto's speed. The elbow that collided with his head sent him staggering.

"So sure you can beat me now, Hayabusa?" Naruto knew he was baiting the man, he dropped his hands to chest level, and began bouncing on his toes, feeling the cold dirt below his feet. Once again, the Hayabusa attacked, Naruto ducked the punch, which lead him right into a knee, the knee made blood flow from his nose.

"I am sure Assassin, and I'll make sure that I take much pleasure in killing you." Naruto grinned, stepping in, he punched the man in the face with a fast jab, then a second, and finally he lashed out with his powerful right hand. The ninja stumbled back, which was only accentuated by the hard side kick he received at the stomach.

"That man stands no chance, Naruto's playing with him." Sasuke muttered.

"I wouldn't be so sure, Naruto is good, but we have to remember that this is one of the Hayabusa's best." Itachi said, watching Naruto take a spinning back fist on his arm, countering with an uppercut. "On the other hand, Naruto is picking him apart. I saw how good he was three years ago, but this is ridiculous."

Naruto kicked low, smashing the man's knee with his shin. He still wore a grin, his teeth coated with blood, looking more of a deep pink than white. _He's strong, but not as fast as Al-Tair._ Naruto thought, he stepped out of the way of a kick, and punched at the man's ribs. The crunch that followed was reassuring. Naruto also felt the pain, his knuckles had been bruised, but the cold mountain air helped numb the pain.

He was dealt a powerful blow, which knocked him down, but Naruto quickly rolled back onto his feet. He used his crouched stance, launching himself off his back foot, and slamming his right hand into his enemy's face.

He used that moment to reach out and grab the man's neck, pulling him in, he slammed the man to the ground, squeezing with his arm, killing the man. Standing up, he grabbed his shirt, cloak, socks and boots. Now fully dressed, he re armed himself, his body and face all bore cuts and bruises, slowly fading. His nose had been broken, but it was healing, he could feel the cartilage working itself back into place. They walked by the guards, one had started running down the mountain, going to find another to replace the guard.

Inside, the wall, they found that the path continued, and that there was a secondary, and tertiary wall. All of which had it's own set of guards.

"Man, these people take their temples seriously." Sakura noted. They walked to the second wall.

At that wall, the guards looked at them in bewilderment.

"you made it past the first wall? How?"

"I challenged the man with the scars, beating and killing him with my hands." Naruto said.

"You lie! No person outside of our village could have beat Maro."

"Any of us could've, I was just the one who did." Naruto shrugged. "I'll kill more of you if you'd like."

"No, not you, her." The man pointed to Sakura. "I want to see her fight Kumo, you'll do it with knives." Naruto nodded.

"Sakura, you're up." Sakura smirked and drew her tanto. The man drew a long, wickedly curved knife that got wider at the end and then ended in a point.

"That man's using a small Kukri." said Itachi.

"No matter, Sakura will be able to handle herself, she's stronger than she looks." Naruto said, sure that he was right.

"She must be, if she's wearing your sword." Itachi replied.

Sakura stood, her left heel raised slightly, all her weight on her back foot. The knife in her right hand waved back and forth. Kumo was the first to strike, narrowly missing Sakura's throat as she lashed out with her own knife, slicing the underside of Kumo's arm. Kumo stepped back, shocked that she had such speed, she'd also cut a vital tendon in his arm, three of his fingers went limp.

He took the knife in his left hand, and attacked again, Sakura dodged out of the way of the copping stroke, and stabbed the ninja below his right eye.

Wiping the blood from the blade, she sheathed it, and turned to her friends. "On to the third wall."

-Chapter Twenty Four: End-

_**Author's Note: See, I held to my promise to update by the end of the year. Well now, I have to say, this chapter was fun, I've been contemplating what I'd do to them once they reached the Hayabusa village, and now I'm content. Next chapter: The Third wall, and the Hayabusa temple.**_


	25. The Third Wall

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

**Bold is supernatural speech.**

-Chapter Twenty Five: The Third Wall-

Naruto looked at his girlfriend, then at Sasuke, then Itachi and Temari, whom seemed to be mortified that Sakura had just put her knife through a man's face.

"What?" She asked the blond woman. "It was him or me, and there was no way I'm gonna die on this damn mountain." Sakura grinned.

"You're too much like him." Temari pointed at Naruto.

"Well, let's find out who's at the third wall." Itachi smirked, "I want the next guy, watching you guys fight has me itching for one of my own." Everyone looked at Itachi. "What? Can't I want to kick ass too?" Sasuke laughed.

"Brother, I've never heard you talk like this." He laughed.

"That's because the only other time I have was with the Akatsuki, now that I've once again rejoined Konoha's ranks, I can talk like I have for the past few years." He'd done away with his cloak, and had reclaimed a spot in the ANBU, he wasn't wearing a mask at the moment however, since he'd had yet to begin his official duties.

"Well, let's stop dawdling, I want to get off this damn mountain." Naruto pushed on, up the path that they were walking. "I bet 100 ryou that we'll be ambushed on this road." Naruto smirked.

"I doubt that." Sasuke, Itachi, and Temari agreed. Sakura sided with Naruto, he had good insight when it came to topics like this.

They walked the long mountain path, which soon turned to stairs, wide steps that didn't ascend quickly, rather like most other temples in the nation. Suddenly Naruto grabbed Sakura and Temari, pulling them down, Itachi and Sasuke dropped as well. Arrows flew over their head.

"You all owe me." Naruto dodged the sword, and rammed his arm blade into the ninja that attacked him. All five enemy ninja were felled quickly. The blond assassin collected his money. They continued up the path the rest of the way in peace.

They happened upon a wall, but not like the other one, it was the side of a plateau, guards were standing on either side of it, half a dozen on either side.

"Sasuke, you want to do a little bonding with your older brother?" Itachi smirked, he drew a kodachi. Sasuke drew his long knife.

They stood in the middle of the opening, the guards circled them, not knowing how dangerous the Uchiha brothers were, individually, and together. The first two came, Sasuke kicked one away, as his brother ducked, he blocked the man's weapon as Itachi impaled the man. Itachi turned in unison with his brother, killing the charging guard as Sasuke struck one down as well. Three down, three to go.

Sasuke and Itachi simultaneously performed the hand seals for the Grand fireball jutsu, and with two fireballs, narrowed the numbers to one, which Naruto felled with a throwing knife.

"I've never seen someone move with such synchrony." Temari said, still surprised at their movements.

"Itachi and I used to do this stuff all the time when we were younger." Sasuke wiped the blood from his blade. "Despite what many people believe, Itachi was a good brother. Even if he did kill our parents, and entire family." Sasuke had learned the truth long ago, he'd read every file he had in the house, from bank statements, to personal journals, his father's told him about the coup that was being planned.

Finally he'd understood the whole business, but was still blinded by his rage and lust for revenge. Now, Sasuke had grown up, learned the nature of ninja, became something that was even more deadly, and moved on. Currently, he was climbing the side of a plateau.

"Brings back memories, doesn't it Sakura?" Naruto smirked, recalling the time they'd spent on that plateau in Masyaf.

"Well, yeah, but we didn't have to fight our way to the plateau, and I think that one was taller." She said as she reached the top of it. "Yeah, definitely taller." She said, looking upon the temple at the top.

It was a temple alright, looking much like a Buddhist temple, but instead of statues of Buddha, there was many statues of tengu.

"Just like home." Sasuke said. "Yup, this is definitely a Hayabusa temple." Itachi agreed.

"Let's see who's home." Itachi shrugged, pressing on. He stopped and jumped back, as he did, a human like form swung a massive sword at where he'd been.

"**That's a demon, not a Bijuu, but a demon no less." **The Nine Tails fox said.

"We've got a sticky situation here guys, that's a demon if I've ever seen one." Naruto said. He drew his sword, Sasuke drew his Dao, Itachi had his Kodachi, as did Temari. Sakura drew her sword, feeling the light blade rest comfortably in her hand.

In the blink of an eye, the demon was on Sasuke, it's massively muscular form swung the zanbatou at him with both hands, forcing him to his knee. Itachi and Naruto attacked from both sides, only to be intercepted by a pair of tentacles that sprouted from beneath the clothes of the attacker. Sakura and Temari tried for a projectile attempt, the kunai flew true, straight for vital spots, but they simply hit the skin and fell.

Sasuke had managed to force his way to a standing position, the blade still heavy on his. He stepped wide with his right leg, and slid his left closer to it, shifting his body, causing the heavy blade to fall, cutting deep into the ground. The demon pulled hard.

"ITACHI! AMATERASU!" Sasuke shouted, referring to the black flames that Itachi could conjure. What he hadn't expected was the drain in his chakra, and the black flames to come without his brother's consent. He collapsed from the drain, it made him light headed. "What the hell?" He looked up, seeing the world in a whole new perception, far sharper than his previous Sharingan.

The demon screamed in agony as the black fire burned it's flesh and bones. Naruto and Itachi extracted themselves from the grip of the tentacles. The three men looked at each other.

"It's not been practiced before, but if an Uchiha comes into contact with a powerful demon, and is under extreme levels of stress, than his Mangekyou Sharingan will awaken itself." Itachi said, the demon had burned to ashes by this time, all that remained was those ashes, which were burning, and the sword.

"I've never felt this kind of power before." Sasuke muttered. He stood up, sweeping his eyes over the temple, he discovered several more demons inside. "We've got company guys." He picked up his blades and sheathed them, favoring a more forward approach, he grabbed the Zanbatou of the demon.

"That's a development." Naruto muttered, readying his sword, taking his dagger in his other hand. "Stay close Sakura, Temari, watch Sasuke's ass." Naruto noted that it was something that she was already doing, quite literally. Sakura chuckled. They all approached the temple, demons poured from the entrance. Sasuke held his sword in his hands, dashing the demons to pieces in single blows, their motions seeming too slow.

Naruto ducked under the claws of a demon, gutting it with his dagger, pivoting into his next slash, and a third stab.

Sakura blocked the claws of a single demon, kicked it in the stomach, and elbowed it across the face, which she'd discovered to be iron hard. _Stick with the blade Sakura._ She thought to herself, cutting one in half, and thrusting the assassin's blade through another's skull.

Temari wasn't a fool, let the assassins play with their blades, she was a wind user. Her fan's gales stripped the demons of their speed, cutting bloody gashes in their bodies.

Itachi had to admire his brother's work, the sword he was using must have weighed nearly one hundred pounds, but he was using it like a smaller weapon. Itachi himself favored the lighter, often shorter blades, felling demon after demon with single strokes of his blade.

Finally, the five stood still in a sea of demon corpses. Their glances shifted from one to another, the sudden lack of action left a vacuum in their bodies, the adrenaline that was coursing through their bodies was suddenly useless.

Sasuke heard the clapping first. It was slow, deliberate clapping, to draw attention to the clapper. Each of them looked up to see a muscular man, white haired and bare chested.

"The sword seems to have found it's new host. The blade you hold is the Dragon sword in it's incomplete form." The man said. "It will bond with you, taking the form of the weapon your spirit tells it." Sasuke felt the energy inside the blade, and noted the shift as the blade shifted. "You mustn't let go of it, no matter what happens, if you do, it will self destruct, killing all of us." Sasuke tightened his grip on the sword. The blade seemed to be shrinking, shaping itself.

The sword had finished it's shape shifting, now in the Uchiha's hands was a katana with a blade as black as night, a deep crimson handle, as well as black handle fittings and a circular pommel which depicted a dragon. "It seems that it's finished, try it out, form your chakra around it." Murai said. Sasuke did as he was instructed, and was surprised to see that the sword erupted in black flame. "Just like the flames you used to kill the demon."

"You seem to know a whole lot about this sword." Itachi stated.

"I should, I've spent my entire life studying it, protecting it, using it, and now I'm passing it on." Murai sat down. "Now why are you here? No, come inside, have some tea, then tell me." Murai gestured for them to come in.

Naruto explained the situation, Murai nodded several times throughout the conversation.

"It seems that my son trifled with the wrong bunch and got himself killed, but I understand his concern, you now possess the key to destroying Madara. That sword is also known as demon slayer, because that was why it was created. Madara himself was once human, but if my understanding is correct, has changed substantially."


	26. Fort Akatsuki: Again

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

_Italics are…well if you've read this much of the story, then you best bloody well understand what Italicized words mean._

_**Same with bold.**_

-Chapter Twenty Six: Fort Akatsuki…Again-

Sasuke had wondered just why Itachi had disappeared before, after he'd gone training, but now it made sense. He'd been digging his tunnels again. Now, the system expanded almost all of fire country.

Currently, they were inside said tunnels, working their way towards Fort Akatsuki, the very same place where Sakura and Naruto had been taken when they were captured. He was much stronger now, faster, smarter, better at fighting in every way possible. If that Tatsuki showed up again, he'd slice her into little cubes.

Night was spent in the tunnels, supplies of ninja rations were dinner for the night. Sasuke fingered the grip of the sword in his hand.

"Do you think that my Mangekyou has something to do with the fact that the sword chose me?" Sasuke asked to no one in particular. "What if it hadn't chosen one of us?"

"Don't think about what could have happened, instead, worry about what is happening." Temari said, placing her hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sasuke took her hand in his.

"I see that something good came of you wrecking those clothes that we spent so much time and money on?" Naruto smirked, the fire light making him look more feral.

"Definitely." His smile looked calm and collected, but also content. "Most definitely."

"So we're seriously attacking an Akatsuki base on our own? Without back up?" Temari asked.

"That's exactly what's going to happen." Itachi nodded, taking another bite of his ration. "We'll have Sasuke run a recon mission, possibly have him and Naruto take out the guards before we head in, full force."

"Five on how many?" Temari asked, skeptical.

"Probably around five hundred." Itachi said. "Why? Nervous?"

"Of course I'm fucking nervous!" The sand ninja shouted.

"I'm not, you need to remember that we're supposed to be the best of the best, Konoha, Masyaf and Suna. We have five of the best from those three here." Sakura stated. "Besides, in close quarters combat like we'll be facing, things will be different, you won't be facing five and six people at a time, more than likely, it's going to be a few, two or three." Said Sakura, remembering how narrow the hallways were.

"Unless… Sasuke, do you still have the explosive tags? I'm thinking we could even the odds a little." Sasuke removed his cloak, strapping his weapons onto his person. He reached into one of the pouches on his belt and removed a rolled bunch of them.

"What do you plan to do with them?" Sakura asked.

"The ceiling, he's going to collapse the ceiling." Itachi smiled. "Naruto, are you sure that they didn't train you _too_ well?"

"No, this is my job, ambushing, raiding, assassinating, I was raised for this." He did the same as Sasuke, the cloaks would make it difficult to move, it was summer now, so it was too hot to justify wearing it into combat. Temari looked uncomfortable, she knew that they were assassins, but to think about the fact that he'd been trained from such a young age to murder, it made her realize that she was the same way, but no where near as blunt about it.

"We strike at dawn. Get some sleep." Itachi laid out his sleeping bag.

-------- -------- -------- --------

Morning came, and they were gone out of the tunnel labyrinth, and down the wall, hiding in the trees and brush nearby the base. Sasuke and Naruto snuck up to the closest point near the base's entrance, and struck, their blades ending the lives without any mercy. From there, they set about systematically setting the explosive papers on the roof, Itachi had given them a hand drawn map of the base, showing where the walls and doorways were, where the least damage would be done. Now reunited with their attack force, they armed the explosives.

Tatsuki had been enjoying a bath, examining the scar that ran across her Achilles tendon that the blond assassin had given her three and a half years ago. That was when the ceiling exploded. She rushed to gather her clothes, and get to the ground level.

Naruto saw the ninja coming out of the ruins, all five made a dash to intercept them before their numbers got too large. Sasuke dodged swords, spears, kunai, and jutsu, it wasn't until he dodged a fist that he stopped.

"Sasuke! That one's mine!" Naruto said, sheathing his sword. "I have a score to settle with her." Tatsuki had the living soldiers clear a space for them, circling the two.

"If he kills me, let him and his friends out of the circle before attacking." Tatsuki shouted. "Better give them a chance to live, then condemn them to death." She saw Naruto remove the harness that was his dagger and sword belt combined, also holding his throwing knives, and much other gear. "No weapons this time?"

"No weapons, I'm gonna settle this on your terms, since you gave my team such a chance as you did." He held up his fists, loose and slightly open. He fired his first punch off his back leg, it missed, but the assassin used his front leg to stop him and turn, to punch at the woman again.

The dodging was tricky, she was much more flexible, and thinner than most of her targets. He planned something, Naruto threw a left hook, being too close to step back from it, Tatsuki ducked, only to have a hammer fist come slamming into the back of her head.

Naruto allowed her to stand. "You've gotten better kid, last time you only beat me through your tricks, now you're standing on par with me." He smiled at her words.

"This isn't my best. I can still kick it up a notch." He stepped in even faster, feinting with his left, and throwing an uppercut into Tatsuki's stomach. That was when the favor tipped his way, he grabbed her neck around the back, the inside of his forearm wrapped around her throat tightly. From there he proceeded to knee her in the chest, choking her the whole time, feeling the woman writhing in his arms was unfamiliar, he'd never choked someone to death. She punched him in the groin, Naruto dropped. When he hit the ground, Tatsuki began kicking and stomping on his head.

Naruto felt the foot pound him in the head, and the adrenaline began to kick even harder. Naruto grabbed the foot, and pushed, sending the woman to the ground. Naruto rolled over, standing, he punched her in the face as she stood, sending her to the ground again, he could feel his broken nose, as well as the bruise that was forming over his left eye. The assassin offered no mercy as his metal plated shin broke ribs that it collided with. He grabbed her dark hair, and punched her in the temple several times, knocking her out after three or four, he then grabbed her neck, and broke it.

"Is there anyone else?!" He looked at everyone around him. "IS THERE ANYONE ELSE?!" He shouted again, none came to face him. So be it. Once he'd strapped his sword was on again, he walked through the crowd, only about forty strong, it would be no major feat to slaughter them all. "Where is Madara?" He asked a man.

"I-I don't know!" He was nervous and scared.

"Then find him, tell him that Uchiha Sasuke, Uchiha Itachi, and Namikaze Naruto are looking for him." With that, they left the mass of soldiers there to surround the lone corpse that was in the clearing.

The soldiers of Akatsuki made no attempt to follow the team of ninja and assassins, but they escaped quickly and undiscovered back into the tunnels. They rushed through the tunnels, sweeping up their gear quickly, hoping to return to Konoha as quickly as possible.

Five hours later they emerged several miles outside of Konoha, their breath heaving, their eyes still adjusting to the light, their clothes covered in dirt. Itachi looked them over, and started laughing.

"What's so funny Itachi?" Naruto asked.

"We look like we've been digging the tunnels, not using them." Sasuke spoke. "Let's get cleaned up before we go see Tsunade."

"No, we need to see her now. It won't take long, then we can get cleaned up. Three of us live in one place, the Ambassador's quarters aren't that far from our house. And Sakura has clothes at home." Naruto's voice was like steel, offering no room for argument. They all obliged, and then headed for the gates.

Inside the office, Tsunade saw Naruto's face, and gasped. She saw his nose at an unnatural angle, badly swollen and obviously broken, his left eye was dark and swollen.

"Did you get in a head butting match with a mountain goat?" She asked.

"Arisawa Tatsuki, one of the members of Akatsuki, I had something to settle with her. It's settled." Naruto tossed the ring on the desk. With that, he gave a report of what happened in Fort Akatsuki.

"Naruto, I don't want you getting into fistfights with ninja who specialize in taijutsu again, this Tatsuki woman must have been seriously tough to do this kind of damage to an Assassin." Tsunade said. "Sakura's tended to you no doubt?"

"Yeah, it'll all be gone by tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to get changed." Naruto turned around, and they all headed towards the Namikaze/Uchiha mansion.

Said Namikaze had to admit, a broken nose hurt like hell. He felt tingling as it mended itself, it took around six hours until the tingling feeling stopped. His face still bore the bruises, but the swelling was gone. Sakura had decided to take a long bath, Naruto was currently reading a book, he had no clue where Sasuke and Temari were, Itachi was watching some horror movie. Naruto, deciding he was bored of his book, sat down on the couch next to Itachi, who was munching on a stick of Pocky.

"What's going on?" Naruto saw a dark haired woman, splattered with blood, a pickaxe like object in one hand, and a torch in the other.

"The creatures are like bats, they see with sonar. she just killed two of them. And then stabbed her friend, because she thought it was one of the monster things." Itachi explained it. Naruto looked at the movie case on his coffee table. "The Descent. I went and bought some movies while I was out earlier, we don't have enough horror movies." Itachi pointed to the three bags sitting on the other couch. Inside there was easily three dozen movies.

"Whoa, thanks Itachi." Naruto shuffled through the movies, seeing various horror, action, and Sci-fi titles, as well as a scant few comedy titles. Naruto placed the movies on the shelf before sitting back down to enjoy the rest of the movie.

Sakura had enjoyed her bath, there was never a feeling quite like soaking the tension in your muscles away after you scrubbed the blood and dirt out of your hair and off of your skin. After dressing in a yukata, she walked down into the main room to see Itachi and Naruto arguing over whether or not a scene from a movie was actually possible.

"No, I'm telling you Itachi, it is possible to kick someone through a wall." Naruto stated.

"Naruto, it's not possible if the wall has support beams in it, like most walls do." Itachi's words were calm, but held an edge of discontentment.

"But look at that building! They're in the middle of the desert where the supplies to build a proper house are scarce. It's made of mud."

"Why don't you try it?" Sakura questioned the two. "Make a wall out of mud, and kick the other through it. Naruto, since you were recently injured, Itachi can be the dummy." She smiled at her boyfriend. Itachi grimaced, but agreed anyway.

In the backyard, Itachi manipulated his chakra with an earth style jutsu and created a wall of mud, baking it with a fire jutsu. There in the middle of the backyard stood a ten foot high mud wall.

"Well Itachi, if the whole ninja thing doesn't work out, you could always be a builder." Said Naruto with a smirk. "Now stand still, I have an Uchiha to kick."

"Naruto, I just realized something." Itachi looked the blond dead in the eyes. "We forgot to pause the movie." Sakura ran into the house to rewind the movie and pause it before returning to the two men in their backyard. Itachi took a deep breath before readying himself to receive a heavy, booted kick.

The kick came with a great slam, sending Itachi into the wall, through it, and crashing into the ground on the other side, five yards away. The elder Uchiha laid there for a minute or so, trying to regain his breath. Sakura took this time to examine his ribcage, to find that none of his ribs were broken, and almost more surprisingly, that no spine or head damage was done.

"I told you Itachi." Naruto snickered, helping the man back into the house where they resumed their movie.

Sasuke returned at around the time Itachi managed to stumble to the couch. After some explanation, the younger Uchiha sibling was left to himself, shaking his head in amusement. They often say that there's a calm before a storm.

_**Author's Note: Would you call that foreshadowing or something more like fore-eclipsing? Either way, I'm done, and for those of you who don't know, the fight between Naruto and Tatsuki was more like what fights tend to be like, very bloody, and very dirty. The Descent is one of my favorite movies. **_


	27. Calm Before the Storm

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

-Chapter Twenty Seven: Calm before the storm-

In front of Tsunade was five ninja, four assassins, and five more Hayabusa. They were standing in on the roof of the Hokage tower. She turned to speak to the fourteen soldiers.

"Our intelligence has told us the locations of more of the Akatsuki operatives, we have the locations of Zetsu, Deidara, Sasori, Hidan, Kakuzu, Madara, Pain and Konan." She looked over the group, Sasuke, Naruto, Al-Ramiz, and Al-Kahil, the best of the Assassins that could be spared.

Five Konoha ninja stood next to them, Sakura, Kakashi, Rock Lee, Asuma, and Itachi. The five best in Konoha. Farther down the line was the five Hayabusa, Ken, Tori, Jashin, Doryu, and Hara. Each was the best for their specialty, Ken, his Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, Tori, his wind jutsu, Jashin, named for the God of death, held a myriad of deadly genjutsu, Doryu had his earth specialty, and Hara was the most well rounded, hence his name, meaning center.

"They're at two different locations, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, and Zetsu are all in one location, according to our last reports, one group of you will be sent that way. The rest of you will be sent after the remaining group, the most dangerous ones are all in one place. And because of that, only four of you will be sent to fight the soldiers, while the remaining ten will be sent towards their base, a base that was used by Orochimaru before he was killed in the Sound invasion." Sasuke remembered the snake man, and his devious tactics.

"Who is going where?" Naruto asked, everyone had been wondering, but only he had the voice to ask.

"Good question, Asuma, Lee, Al-Kahil, and Doryu will be sent after the less dangerous group, Asuma, you're the leader of group A." She looked over the rest of the group. "Kakashi, you have the most field experience out of everyone here, you're the team leader for team B, Naruto, in the event that Kakashi dies, you're the leader."

"Let's hope I never have to be the leader eh Kakashi?" Naruto cracked a smirk.

"No doubt. But, you never know what can happen on missions." Kakashi said. "So, Hokage sama, anything else?"

"Not today, I'll give you the locations of the bases tomorrow, and you'll leave on Tuesday, two days from then. For now, you're dismissed." The Hayabusa were the only ones that stayed.

Kakashi could be found standing in front of the Hero's monument, like he often was.

"Well sensei, this may be my last one. We're going after the Akatsuki, the guys that have been trying to get your son for a while." Kakashi said. It was then that he heard a person approaching, he looked up to see Naruto walking his way. "Hey Naruto."

"Let the dead sleep, keep a journal or something." Naruto said, taking a seat in the grass. "Why do you wear the mask Kakashi?"

"I've always worn it, I'm just used to it I guess."

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned, knowing he was prying. "Or is there a reason for it? Are you trying to hide from something?" Kakashi looked down at the younger man.

"Can you honestly tell me it wouldn't look weird if my Sharingan was covered, and my face wasn't?"

"Okay, that's one for you I suppose."

"That's the only reason for it anymore, I don't have the ability to deactivate the Sharingan, if I could find that out, I might consider taking the mask off."

"When we get back from our mission, I'll help you with it however I can."

"You mean 'if'."

No, I mean when. No one is going to die on this mission." Naruto's voice was that of a man who was absolutely sure of himself. "I'll see to it."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I just can be. No one will die." He stood up. "Come on, let's get some lunch." Kakashi shrugged, and they went back into the village to get lunch.

It was Naruto's turn to sit and think, he was atop the Hokage monument, staring down into the village.

"I promised him that I wouldn't let anyone die. I won't go back on my word. I can't go back on my word." He sighed. "Dad, this is what it was like for you huh?"

Sasuke spent his time familiarizing himself with the other fighters of his group, Ken, Tori, Jashin, and Hara. Ken was very formidable in close quarters. Tori favored long range more, Jashin was a long and medium range fighter, Hara could fight at any range, he wasn't as good at melee combat as Ken, his long range offensive jutsu were not as powerful as Tori, but he had a wider variety, and his Genjutsu was nowhere near as efficient as Jashin's, but he could do all of them, and he had a crossbow with special bolts designed to explode on impact.

"Alright, we need to divide this into teams, Naruto, Ken and I are the best melee fighters, Naruto's a great shot with a crossbow, Kakashi, who's our team leader is an all range fighter like Hara, my brother is an all range fighter, Sakura is another close quarters fighter." Sasuke laid it all out on the table. "What I propose is quite unorthodox, we send in the long range fighters first, they throw out what they have, before we send in the all range fighters, who hit from long range and then close range. That's where us close fighters come in, to offer support for the all range guys, who then help us."

"You're not the team leader, why are you deciding this?" said Jashin, stepping towards Sasuke.

"Because, I was assigned to decide this. Do you have some sort of problem with this?" Sasuke stepped in even closer.

"Yeah. I do." It was then that he'd realized that he realized that Jashin was forming hand seals behind his back. Jashin was a genjutsu master, and as such, required no words to cast his jutsu. Sasuke was just suddenly encased in a blinding pain, as if spikes were stuck in him from all directions.

"Tsu-Tsukuyomi!" Sasuke had been looking Jashin in the eyes when the jutsu was cast, and he hadn't felt his body move, so it seemed logical to be still looking him in the eyes.

Sasuke was rewarded with the world becoming black, and the moon, red as his eyes.

"Welcome to Tsukuyomi, my world." Jashin was strapped to a large wooden plank, his arms tied above his head. "This is where you will experience hell. I had hoped that you'd be a useful comrade, but it seems that you don't even know when to back down." Sasuke stepped forward, punching the man in the stomach with a gloved hand. "So, for the next seventy two hours, you will experience being stabbed by these." Sasuke flipped out his concealed blade. "Have fun." Sasuke sat down on the ground as Jashin began screaming in agony. After a few moments, he stopped. "I'm not a cruel person, so I'll stop it at that." the Uchiha released the illusion.

Jashin dropped to his knees, the effects of the Genjutsu still grating his nerves. The rest of the Hayabusa looked at each other.

"What did you do to him?" Hara asked.

"I showed him that there's people who are better at Genjutsu than him." Sasuke picked him up. "That was a few seconds, imagine if you'd gone through the whole seventy two hours." Sasuke stated. "I might be an Assassin, but I'm also an Uchiha with the highest level of the Sharingan. Very few of your ranks are." Sasuke said. "Now then, anyone else have a problem with my decisions?" The Hayabusa all looked at him, each one was as nervous as the next. "Good. Jashin, drink this, it'll make you feel better." Sasuke pulled out his canteen, and mixed in a powder that he extracted from a pouch on his belt. Jashin drank the mixture, which tasted quite foul, but downed the entire bottle. "Now then, the base we're going to be sent to is in the former sound village, pretty far north, we won't have to worry too much about the cold since it is summer, but there's going to be a lot of rain, bring something waterproof to carry your scrolls and water sensitive equipment in." Sasuke pulled out a map of the sound village, where they'd be doing battle.

The blond Assassin was spending his time practicing with his crossbow. Their best bet in the battle would be to hit them hard and fast with long range attacks before moving in for close range attacks. Naruto's plan was to use his explosive bolts, which could wreak much more havoc than just a sharp stick. He fired a bolt at his target, and as he reloaded the crossbow, something Naruto had learned to do quickly, he heard someone walking behind him.

"Hey Sakura." It was instinct that told him who it was. "Come to shoot stuff with me?"

"No thanks, I've come to see if you wanted to go get some dinner later tonight?" Sakura simply watched as her boyfriend brought his crossbow to bear, carefully aimed and launched the bolt into the target, a hairsbreadth to the left of the first bolt. "That's good aim at fifty meters."

"Thanks." Naruto paused to reload. "We can go get dinner in a little while, there's this place I saw while walking back home today that I want to try." Naruto walked over to his target and pulled the bolts out. "I heard that one of the Hayabusa uses a crossbow too, I want to see if he's any good with it."

"Isn't it that Hara guy? If his name's any indicator, then he's probably okay with it." Sakura noted. "This mission…it's gonna be a tough one."

"I know. But let's enjoy the calm before the storm." Naruto smiled as he placed his bolts into his quiver, as well as the crossbow. "We've got some dinner to get."

Kakashi was sitting with Itachi and Sasuke, planning their assault on the base. Sasuke explained his plan for the soldiers, which both Itachi and Kakashi agreed with on a basic level.

"We need to find out how we're going to draw them out of the base, or how we're going to get into the base." Kakashi said.

"There's an emergency alarm at this one, if something sets it off, they'll send soldiers out." Itachi said, having been a former member of Akatsuki. "I say that we set off the alarm, and then ambush the soldiers. When they find out that the soldiers have been killed, they'll send some of the members out."

"So we'll kill whoever they send out first, and as that continues, they'll either just keep feeding the fire, or they'll send everyone out at once." Sasuke finished the thought.

"Exactly." Itachi nodded. "We have to be careful to kill as many of the soldiers as we can in the first wave, and not let anyone get back inside. They'll call Pain, and if we're outnumbered and overpowered, we'll all die."

"We can't have that." Kakashi chuckled. "Naruto can't be the team leader."

"Someone's selfish." Sasuke laughed. "But I agree, we'd definitely all die if Naruto was the leader." It was a joke, Sasuke knew that Naruto would stop at nothing to keep everyone alive. "I say that when the soldiers come out, Naruto and I use our summons, and anyone that can use a jutsu that does a lot of damage over a large area can use them."

"The less energy used the better. I have a lot of high level fire jutsu that are designed to take out entire squads in one go." Itachi said.

"I've got a few that I could use as well, my summons aren't much good for combat." Kakashi's dogs were scouting animals, not combatants. "Sounds like we've got a plan." Kakashi said, he knew there was always snags in the mission, but those would be worried about when it came to it.

-Chapter Twenty Seven: End-

_**Author's Note: This chapter took far too long, I apologize for that, but I've just had no time to write lately. The next several chapters will be covering the battles with Akatsuki, the outcome, and most likely a little ways after that. I don't feel like this is the best I've ever done, but it wasn't exactly a burst of inspiration. Well, I do hope you've enjoyed.**_


	28. The Small Big Battle

I don't own Naruto or Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is demonic speech**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

-Chapter Twenty Eight: The small big battle-

Asuma had a lot of experience leading groups into dangerous places, hostile territory. He had done his share of suicide missions. Lee, and Al-Kahil he wasn't so sure of, Doryu's record seemed to be rather impressive in fact. At the age of twenty four, Doryu had already completed over one hundred missions, thirty of them were assassinations, fifteen were hostage rescues, and several others were other combat missions.

Al-Kahil was the best of the newer generation of Assassins, Naruto's training partner, Sasuke's training partner, and in many ways a good balance of them both. He was bigger than Sasuke, but not as broad as Naruto, he used the sword of the Assassins, but favored kunai over throwing knives.

Lee was the greatest fist fighter than Konoha had ever produced, no longer clad in his green spandex, but a black ninja suit, minus a mask, and minus the bowl cut, he'd chosen to grow his hair back to it's original braided length. He also carried a weapon now, on either of his sides were trench knives, much like his own, but slightly longer and narrower on the blade, the steel wasn't the conductive metal he had, but a much harder carbon steel. Lee had changed greatly since a two years ago.

_-Flashback: Two years ago-_

_Lee was sitting by himself, beneath a waterfall, the tallest one in Konoha. Gai had died, and Lee was taking it incredibly harshly, throwing himself into training, swearing that he'd surpass his beloved master and make the dead man proud. It started with first concluding that in order to surpass Gai, he mustn't imitate the man, but rather use his styles to propel him into greatness. The first thing he did after his meditation was change his entire outfit, never being one for style, he replaced his green spandex suit and leg warmers with black ninja pants and a black gi, beneath it he wore a long sleeved, form fitting shirt. _

_It wasn't long after that that Lee concluded that in order to succeed at becoming the greatest Taijutsu master in all of Konoha, he needed a weapon. The weapons store was a place to him that was entirely alien, he'd only ever gone there to buy basic weapons to replace his broken kunai, or missing shuriken. He was trained for a sword, but didn't want to become too reliant on it. Perhaps something smaller. A dagger was a better idea, smaller, but far more difficult to master, due to it's short length. It was then that he saw them; the handles like knuckledusters, from one end of each, a brass stud protruded, from the other end, a seven inch blade. _

_After buying them, he spent some time familiarizing himself with the weapons. That was when he began to think about what it was that denied him the use of chakra. A thought occurred to him, he could see just what it was, the medical examiners at the hospital could find out why, and perhaps help him with his goal. After his training in the morning, Lee went to the hospital to see an examiner. _

_The results that came from it were strange, they indicated that the only problem was that his chakra system wasn't well formed, at that time it was concluded that there was a form of therapy that could help him. It involved the use of a steroid, much like a soldier pill, that would help grow his chakra system, with the proper training. He was given specific instructions on how to use them, which involved taking one before he trained, and then as he continued training in both physical ways and mental ways, his chakra pathways would expand, allowing Lee the use of his chakra._

_Never one to learn many jutsu, Lee used the chakra that he'd learned to use through six months of tree walking and water walking was used to enhance his physical skills. He'd learned basic jutsu like the replacement jutsu, as well as the Kage Bunshin. Never would he be able to make as many as Naruto, who was known for his immense stamina, but he could manage ten. Kakashi stumbled across him fighting with shadow clones one day, and told him that the clones retained knowledge when they were killed. It was then that he started making them read books while he trained with his knives, fists, and body. _

_A year and a half later, Lee was known as an exceptional ninja. not skilled in Genjutsu, and possessing only a few basic jutsu, most of which were stealth or Taijutsu enhancing skills, but his Taijutsu was far better than anyone's in the village. Lee had accomplished his goal of surpassing Gai, he often was seen meditating near Gai's grave, which wasn't in the Graveyard, but rather near the training ground where the ninja trained with his beloved team. Neglecting to cut his hair, Lee simply braided it._

_Just before the return of Naruto, Lee beat Neji in a taijutsu match. _

_-Flashback: End-_

Lee had indeed improved in leaps and bounds; When he found something he couldn't overcome, he attacked it with all of his strength and will until it was overcome, and then he was that much stronger. Lee's life had consisted solely of obstacles that he couldn't overcome at first. That iron determination gave him a small amount of peace, knowing that Lee would conquer whatever was in his way.

When camp was made, information was shared on the ninja that they would be facing. It was decided that Lee would fight Deidara, since he was the only one who was fast enough to dodge the explosives that the man was known to use. Hidan would be faced by Asuma himself, being the oldest and most experienced, it was fitting that he fight the most unknown shinobi on the enemy team. Doryu would fight Zetsu, the man who was supposedly master of all things earthen. Al-Kahil was fighting Sasori, the puppet master, being primarily a Taijutsu fighter, but Al-Kahil had a special surprise for the puppet master.

It took them two days to get to the supposed location of the camp, inside the deep ravine; But finding it was a different story entirely, the shrine gate in the river showed them the location, but the massive boulder was in their way, and even Lee's greatest punch couldn't collapse it.

"The rock has a seal on it, but what about the walls around it?" Doryu immediately set to work on hand seals. "Earthen arts! Earth shaping!" The solid stone began shaping, a large doorway appeared in the side of the wall.

"I see that you're quite intelligent, all of you. Good." Out from the hole approached a man shaped being, a massive maw of what appeared to be a fly trap. His face was mostly featureless, except for a mouth, and the red eyes that seemed glowing on his longitudinally divided face, one side black and the other white. His body was obscured by cloak. "I see that Konoha has planned something. Then let us do battle!" A vine shot up through the water, nearly impaling Al-Kahil, but Doryu diverted the vine with an earth jutsu that appeared to have no seals required. "Your ability is strange."

"Call it a blessing." Doryu's chakra continued to congregate at his hands, and then disappear as jutsu fired off. An 'Earthen Arts: Dragon from the Earth' came roaring from the riverbed, and pinned Zetsu to a wall. The wall and dragon both created a pincer, but suddenly the man was gone.

Zetsu fired the jutsu off first, before resurfacing, the vines ensnared the contemptible man who was so skilled in Earth jutsu. He surfaced to see the man struggling. "I hope you enjoy your prison, you won't be leaving it until I'm ready to kill you." Zetsu had made a grave mistake in underestimating the Hayabusa; When he felt the blade through his back, it was clear. Doryu twisted his sword in the man's back, he'd pierced the Abdominal Aorta, Zetsu would bleed to death in a matter of seconds, but it didn't stop there, Doryu pulled the blade up, cleaving through connective cartilage and bone, cleanly severing Zetsu's right side from his body, from his stomach up.

Doryu was standing, blood covering his brown ninja uniform, the body of his fallen opponent sinking in the water below, staining it red. Suddenly, he jumped back, just in time to avoid the explosion that sprayed everyone with water.

"It's my turn yeah." Deidara walked out of the hole in the wall. "It's your turn to see my art. And good job on Zetsu, that bastard just gathered information." Lee stepped in front of Doryu.

"This one's mine Doryu, rest." Lee put his hands up into his usual stance.

"Ah, a Taijutsu fighter, interesting. I'll show you my skill." Deidara created a massive bird from what appeared to be clay, he stepped onto the bird and flew high up into the air. Lee picked up a fist sized rock, and with a powerful arm threw it at the bird. Quickly forming a seal, he used the replacement jutsu, and was soaring through the air towards the bird. Lee grabbed the bird, and pulled himself up, as he rose, an uppercut found it's way to Deidara's chin.

The explosives user flew from his bird, Lee followed him, not expecting the massive blast that came from behind him. Lee planted his feet against the wall of the ravine as Deidara fell into the water below. Lee ran down the wall, and jumped to land on the water. Deidara surfaced, only to be kicked in the face by Asuma, right into Lee's direction, who in turn grabbed the blond man and slammed him into the wall.

Lee grabbed his trench knife, holding the man against the wall, he didn't expect the man to self destruct.

Lee was thrown against the other wall, and sunk into the wall, blood, bone, and flesh, spattered the entire area of the ravine, Lee stood up in the water, his face, arms, and chest were scorched and black. He stood to his full height, adrenaline keeping him standing. "Initial Gate: Release!" The burst of chakra came. "Life Gate: Release!" The burns began to fade quickly.

Lee stood, his clothing burnt and torn, the skin regenerated, when he heard the clicking. The sound that's made when metal strikes stone. Four strikes sounded in quick succession, and they seemed to be getting closer as time continued. There were also footsteps, and the sound of what seemed to be a cane.

Two figures emerged, one was a human, his gray hair slicked back, in his right hand he held a scythe with three blades. He was a man of average build, but his eyes showed such demonic intent, he looked to be the God of Death incarnate.

The second figure was more imposing than the first, it seemed to be a masked beast with a metal scorpion's tail. It's face was dark, the hair was braided in corn rows, the remainder of it's face was covered by a red cloth.

"Let me guess." Al-Kahil stepped forward, tipping his chin up slightly. "The fuckin scorpion thing is Sasori of the red sands?" He laughed. "I was expecting something less explosive." In a flash, a kunai stuck into Sasori's forehead, the seal on it began burning. "Say hello to our new invention, we call it Nitro Glycerin."

-Chapter Twenty Eight: End-

_**A/N: It's taken me a while to figure out how I wanted to do this one. There will be a second part to the small big battle. I call it that because it's the less dangerous of the Akatsuki. I dove into Lee's back story a bit, because I feel that too many people leave him as is. I'm considering doing a one-shot that explains how Gai died, probably after I finish this story. Next Chapter: Al-Kahil and Sasori, Hidan and Asuma.**_


	29. Big victory, Big loss

I don't own Naruto of Assassin's Creed.

**Bold is supernatural speech**

_Italics are thoughts, flashbacks, the like._

-Chapter Twenty Nine: Big Victory, Big loss.-

The Explosion knocked everyone back, except Al-Kahil, who stood firmly in his steel toed boots. The blast caused part of the valley to collapse, boulders of all sizes fell into the water, which was sent in every direction from the Nitro Glycerin explosion. Smoke and dust lingered in the air of the valley, as stone was piled up twenty feet above the water line, which was a little higher due to the massive stone pile.

"Damn, I guess that two tags was a little much." Al-Kahil laughed, turning around. "You guys alright?" Asuma, Lee, and Doryu all stood up slowly.

"What did you say that was?" Asuma asked. "Nitro Glycerin? Glycerin as in soap?"

"Not really, it's Nitric acid and Sulfuric acid. Very dangerous to mix, and very volatile." Al Kahil pulled out a roll of explosive tags. "Now let's get going, I might happen to know where Naruto and the rest are going."

"No, we need to get back to the village and report." Asuma said.

"Fuck that! I'm going to help Naruto." Al-Kahil said. "In the brotherhood, we always fight for our brothers, no matter what our orders are. If you and Lee want to go, fine, if Doryu wants to go, fine, then I'll go myself." Al-Kahil paused, he felt a presence behind him, and then ducked, when a scythe flew over him, embedding itself in the wall in front of him.

"You bastards started fighting while I was fucking praying. Now I'm gonna kill you all." Hidan stepped through the gaping hole in the wall, his gray hair combed back. "You motherfuckers will be a great sacrifice to Jashin-sama." Asuma flicked his cigarette into the water.

"This one's mine." He smirked as he pulled a pair of trench knives from his flak jacket. In a burst of movement, Asuma lunged at Hidan, and narrowly missed Hidan's throat.

Hidan's three bladed scythe came whirling around, only to be ducked under as Asuma's reflexes kicked in. Making a slash at the legs of Hidan, Asuma rose, his second knife coming around upward and at an angle, cutting all the way across Hidan's body.

Asuma's first knife, came soaring down from above, and buried itself right in Hidan's forehead. What everyone else failed to notice was an explosive tag on the knife, that was burning quickly.

"Burn you bastard!" Asuma kicked away from his enemy as the blast went off, dust, blood, and water were everywhere. A scream arose from the mess, Asuma's voice pierced the sky as smoke cleared to reveal a bloody stump where his left arm used to be, burns all the way across his chest and face, and much of his hair gone as well.

"Shit! let's get some pain killers in him, and then you guys get him back to Konoha as soon as possible!" Al-Kahil shouted, pulling out a small black case from a pouch on his belt. He withdrew a syringe and a small bottle full of clear liquid, quickly piercing the lid and drawing a decent amount of it into the needle, he pulled back the burnt right sleeve of Asuma's shirt and put the needle into a vein. "This is a large dose of Morphine, it'll knock him out and last about six hours. Lee, can you run to Konoha with him on your back in six hours?"

"I can do it in four, his life depends on me doing it faster." Lee said, and began preparing for such a long run. "Doryu, start ahead of me, if you beat me there, go straight to the hospital and tell them to prepare an ICU for Asuma." The ninja nodded and ran at blinding speeds. After only a minute, the eldest ninja had passed out.

The Assassin cut a large swath of his cloak away and wrapped it over Asuma's arm-stump, tying it tight to his body. Lee picked him up over his shoulders, and turned to the southeast, and began running. Lee was an expert runner, he carried a three hundred pound canvas sack up to the top of the Hokage mountain and back every day he trained.

Al-Kahil dumped the syringe and picked up the morphine and his medicine case, as he put it away he looked at the body of Hidan. The two legs and one arm still attached to the torso were searching for the missing pieces.

"What the hell?" the Assassin said. "Screw it, I'll blast him." He pulled out a kunai and explosive tag, and stuck it into the body, and got a running start in the opposite direction of the other three ninja.

Doryu didn't run. He sprinted, his legs were moving faster than they'd ever moved before. He had sixty miles to cover in four hours. On a horse it would be no major feat, but to run that distance in so little time was something amazing. Nevertheless, Doryu was hell bent on delivering his message, he had to run fifteen miles in a single hour. That was a quarter mile in a minute, Doryu told himself. After an hour he felt his shirt, armor and sword getting heavy, so he unlatched the sword and armor, dropping them as he ran, he could acquire a new sword and armor, a shirt was of little consequence as well. Now clad in only headband, pants and boots, he felt a thousand times lighter, the cool wind against his skin, the blood in his veins like battery acid.

Lee considered himself lucky that he'd already opened several of the chakra gates, it made running fast easy, even with Asuma's weight on his shoulders, Asuma weighed less than his normal load, but he was running six times the distance. He remembered everything he'd been told, about how his team was more valuable than the mission, and about how his life was worth losing if it meant saving another person. In the temples he trained in as a boy, they taught that the ultimate sacrifice led to heaven. He pushed as hard as he could, each microscopic tear in his muscles instantly healing thanks to the chakra gates.

Al-Kahil was headed into the former Sound village, a place he'd been before, the damp, dank and tropical environment that Orochimaru had favored in his days among the living. It was like wading waist deep in moss, which wasn't at all a bad definition of the plants that grew on the ground in Oto. He'd been in the base he was headed to before, as a spy before, not an invader.

Al-Kahil jumped over the wall in a single leap, and saw ultimate combat before him. Naruto, Kakashi, Sasuke and Itachi were all back to back fighting off more than twenty of the Akatsuki infantrymen. Sasuke was armed with only his dagger, his sword had yet to be drawn it appeared.

To the left of him was Sakura and the Hayabusa ninja fighting off a similar group. Sakura's own sword was slashing bodies, breaking swords, and piercing armor, but what appeared most amazing was when she collapsed a man's ribcage with a single punch. He cracked his knuckles, drew his sword, and jumped from the wall, landing his boots on the skull of an enemy, he ducked under a spear, and pierced a knee with his hidden blade.

Lee's load became no heavier as feet, yards, and miles disappeared by him as seconds and minutes passed. He readjusted his load once, but he did it while running, and as gently as he could possibly do it. Asuma's weight was centered between Lee's shoulders, and to Lee it felt like relatively little. He concentrated on his goal of reaching Konoha in the next hour, before his time limit was up, he was sure he was close enough that it was possible.

Doryu had run this distance before, the distance wasn't the killer. Speed was his killer, since he was running this distance in less than half of his usual time for covering that distance. He ran though, a life that was more important than his depended on it. The life of a father, a husband, the life of a great ninja, the life of his mission's leader. Each time his boots hit the ground, it pushed more battery acid through his veins, but his goal was almost near. He was only a half an hour away, in a half an hour he'd tell the hospital in Konoha to prepare his commanding officer's ICU.

Tsunade seldom worked at the hospital, but since Sakura was on a mission, she'd filled the shift of her apprentice. It had been a relatively boring day for her, checking on patients, writing prescriptions, simple and monotonous things as that. The Hokage felt like a storm was coming, yet the sky was clear, and it confused her. When Doryu crashed through the door, his skin red, chest huffing, shirtless, and weaponless, she was curious.

"Asuma's in critical condition, Lee's just behind me, prepare an ICU for him!" And he collapsed. Shizune walked over to Doryu and felt his pulse, she looked up at Tsunade.

"He's dead." She closed his eyes. "Get me a stretcher so we can move him, Tsunade, what ICU are we going to use for Asuma?"

"Let's use 18, it's clear." She said. "I'll get that one prepped now." Tsunade left to get equipment she might need, since she was still unsure of the injury which put Asuma into critical condition.

Lee saw the gates of Konoha rise above the tree line, he was close, very close. He'd hoped Doryu was a good distance ahead of him, because Asuma would need help as soon as possible. Weaving through the crowded streets was no problem, he took to rooftops, where no one would be in his way. He kept on running until he got to the hospital where Tsunade was waiting for him.

"What happened?" She asked, two assistants helped put Asuma onto a stretcher.

"He detonated an explosive tag at super close range on an enemy. The enemy was killed, Asuma suffered loss of his left arm, and serious burns." Lee said, walking with them, his skin coated with sweat, shirt sticking to him in places.

"Idiot, how long has it been since you and Doryu left?"

"Three hours and fifty five minutes for me, when did Doryu arrive?"

"He arrived about half an hour ago, announced the problem and then died from heart failure." Lee's head was bowed at hearing this. "He'll be awarded the Medal of Honor, as will Asuma."

Naruto pierced the dirt with his blood covered sword as the last of the enemies fell. Sasuke wiped the blade of his knife and sheathed it.

"Al-Kahil, what happened with your mission?" Kakashi asked, cleaning his own sword with a single flick of his wrist. The Assassin explained the circumstances. "Sounds like you had fun." Kakashi rolled his wrists and neck, and rotated his shoulders.

"Well, your fun seems to be coming to an end eh?" Madara came out, his three remaining comrades followed. "How should we do this?"

"I have an idea, Itachi, why don't you and I kill Madara, and the rest of our friends can kill his tools." Sasuke said, pulling his dagger out again.

"Wait, I have an idea." Naruto stepped in. "We have a means of solving this in Masyaf, an enemy who has a grudge with someone can challenge someone to a fistfight, if they lose, they die, if they win, they kill the loser." the blond assassin started. "But I'm sure you're not going to fist fight an Assassin Madara, so how about we just do this one on one." He pointed at the masked man. "I want to put this sword in your chest Madara, you're the reason my father sealed this demon inside me, I'm going to kill you for it."

"I'm sure you'd love that, now while you are all busy trying to plan this out, Konan here has been planting explosive tags behind you." Madara smiled beneath his mask as the explosives detonated and took two of the Hayabusa with them, and sent a piece of stone through Al-Ramiz' leg.

"There, now the odds are a little more fair." Pain said. "But I've got a trick up my sleeve as well." Hands came together to form three seals for a jutsu as two other Pain copies appeared out of the ground. Madara stared at Naruto, and began laughing.

"Naruto, I have to say, that you've been a thorn in my side since you've returned to Konoha." Madara stepped forward. "You ruined my plan to kill the spy and turn the last Uchiha against Konoha. You've ruined everything. So here is will I'll kill you." Naruto stepped to face the leader of the criminal group Akatsuki.

-Chapter Twenty Nine: End-

_**A/N: That took me far too long, but I've been so terribly busy with my training, work, and life in general to write. And for that, I'm terribly sorry. I hope this chapter is worth it. If not, I shall commit seppuku(not really). But seriously, I'll have the next one up as soon as I can, and hopefully chapters for my other two stories.**_


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